


Chuck vs. While He Was Sleeping

by Amelia_Wolfson



Category: Chuck (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:20:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 26,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28152996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amelia_Wolfson/pseuds/Amelia_Wolfson
Summary: Inspired by the Sandra Bullock movie "While You Were Sleeping." Chuck is injured during a mission and slips into a coma. Will his world be different when he wakes up again?
Relationships: Chuck Bartowski/Sarah Walker, John Casey/Ellie Bartowski Woodcomb
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

“Oh my God, Chuck,” Sarah screamed, the Fulcrum agent’s gunshot still echoing in her ears as she watched him fall as if in slow motion to the ground. The dark red of his blood began to spread, staining his silver tie and shirt, as she fell to the ground beside him, trying to put pressure on the wound to staunch the bleeding. He’d been wearing a vest, but the bullet must have hit him right at the edge of the plating. “Come on, Chuck, stay with me!”

“Sa-rah,” He gasped trying to reach his hand to brush the tears from her cheeks, “Don’t cry, I’ll be fi-” His whispered voice fell off as his arm dropped to his side.

“Chuck!” She sobbed, “No you can’t, I never... Please, don’t leave me! I need you to stay with me! I need you!”

Casey had heard the shot and saw the kid go down. Walker was closest, so while she rendered aid, he took out the Fulcrum agents and called in support services, “Agent down, we need a MEDEVAC ASAP!” The support staff at the other end of the line confirmed evac was 3 minutes out, thank God LA was lousy with commercial and private airports where they could stage rescue birds and medical personnel. He watched as Sarah, her hands covered with the kid’s blood, fell apart. He’d known for some time that she had feelings for the asset, and the kid made it no secret he’d fallen head over ass for her practically from day one. In Casey’s opinion, it was a shitty situation for all involved, but felt there weren’t nothing wrong with it, long as it didn’t compromise the mission. From what he’d seen innumerable times over, Walker’s lady feelings for the geek made her a better agent, more focused, but at the same time less of the wildcard enforcer he’d heard about prior to all the Intersect business.

For a brief moment, he wished he had someone who cared for him the way Walker did for Bartowski. He’d had it once before Keller recruited him to black ops and forced him to cut ties with Kathleen. He didn’t regret the decision he made, often, but he couldn’t deny he enjoyed the company of a good woman, not that he came across all that many in his line of work. Ilsa was good while he had her, and she was of his world, but in the end it wouldn’t have worked. Kathleen thought he was dead and had long since remarried. He’d gotten permission, once he realized that this was going to be a long-term mission, to inform Kathleen so as to avoid any problems if she were to run into him. She’d been surprised, and understandably furious with him, for all he’d put her through by letting her think he’d died on deployment, but eventually forgave him. What he hadn’t anticipated was that she’d have a surprise of her own, they’d had a daughter, apparently their aborted trip to Niagra Falls and spur-of-the-moment alternate plans had resulted in her getting pregnant the weekend before he’d shipped out.

On his rare down time, he’d slip away to spend time with the girl, who was now nearly 12 years old. Alexandra, or Alex, as she preferred to be called was the spitting image of her mother, but had the Coburn tenacity. Her proudest achievement to this point in her young life was earning her brown belt the previous month after studying Karate since the age of six, it was also the first rank-up test he’d been able to attend. He was so proud that day, but knew it wasn’t his place, at least not yet. Kathleen was responsible for guiding her to be the amazing young woman she was.

Casey was pulled from his reverie when he heard the whack-wack-wack of the helicopter blades as it began to land. He glanced over to where Sarah was still knelt, bloody hands covering the section of the kid’s upper torso not protected by his body armor, tears streaming down her face, before running to the door and marshalling in the medical corpsmen. The corpsmen were disguised as air ambulance employees in their dark red jumpsuits and carried a portable backboard and medical kit with them as they ran to Bartowski’s side.

At first Sarah didn’t want to move from her position, but Casey quickly pulled her to her feet, and for the first time in the history of their partnership, allowed her to bury her head in his shoulder as she continued to cry for the man she loved. The closest hospital was a civilian facility, so when the team cut away the kid’s shirt and protective vest to gain access to the wound to stabilize him, they left the vest behind. Once Chuck was hooked up to an IV of antibiotics and his wound delt with enough for transport, he was transferred onto the backboard and carried out by two of the corpsmen, a third running alongside their team, IV bag held aloft. The fourth member of the team ran up to Casey and saluted.

“Major, we have Agent Carmichael as stable as we can at this point,” The corpsman explained, “The closest hospital with a trauma department is Westside Medical.”

“Heads up, Carmicheal has family who works at the hospital,” Casey advised, “A Doctor Eleanor Bartowski, she is unaware of his clandestine service, copy?”

“Hard copy Major,” The Corpsman nodded, “What is the cover story?”

“Mugging gone wrong,” Casey advised, “Get going, Corporal, Agent Walker and I will follow.”

“Aye-aye, Sir,” The Corpsman saluted once more before turning on her heel and running to join her team in the chopper which was spooling up for lift-off.

“Come on, Walker,” Casey urged Sarah, the growl in his voice only a bit softer than it usually was, “We have to get going and run interference for your boy toy.”

“He’s not my boy toy,” Sarah grumbled, pushing away from Casey and practically running for the door and to the Crown Vic.

As soon as they were in the car and on their way to Westside Medical, Casey called in the cleaner crew to deal with the now dead Fulcrum agents. When they arrived at the Emergency room at Westside, Casey flashed his badge and they were informed that Chuck was in surgery and given directions to a private waiting room where a doctor would meet with them once the kid was out of surgery. Casey settled into a chair with a grunt, might as well call and brief Beckman while they waited.


	2. Chapter 2

“Devon, I really don’t want to talk about this right now,” Ellie huffed quietly, mindful of the fact they were in the break room at work. “It really isn’t appropriate to discuss at work.”

“Ellie, Babe, we’re planning our wedding. I’d say it’s a pretty appropriate topic of conversation,” Devon countered. Ellie had been acting off since his parents had arrived to help with the arrangements.

“Are we, are we really?” Ellie arched an eyebrow in challenge, “Because it feels like I have absolutely no say in _anything_ pertaining to the event. I wanted a simple, intimate ceremony on a beach, your mom wants just one step down from the royal wedding and of course, whatever Honey wants, Honey gets.”

“That’s not true,” Devon protested.

“You don’t really believe that, do you?” Ellie frowned, “I wanted hydrangea and gerbera daisies; your mother wanted calla lilies and roses. She ordered the calla lilies and roses without even asking my opinion. I wanted a simple potluck or casual catered reception in our courtyard, your mom rented a high-end banquet hall and set the menu entrees as an option between Prime Rib and Salmon with lobster bisque or corn chowder for a starter! And to top it all off your _father_ has the audacity to assume he would be walking me down the aisle.”

“He was just trying to be helpful, Babe, since you and your dad aren’t in contact,” Devon tried to explain.

“I already have someone to walk me down the aisle,” Ellie pointed out, “Chuck.”

Devon opened his mouth to defend his parent’s actions over the previous week when Ellie was paged to the Chief of Medicine’s office. “I have to go, Devon. We can discuss this tomorrow, when we’re both off work.”

“Fine,” Devon huffed and stormed out of the break room like a giant toddler throwing a tantrum. This was not the way things were supposed to go for him. He needed to find a solution, and fast.

* * *

Arriving at the Chief of Medicine’s office, she knocked on the door. “Come in,” Came the warm voice of Dr. Calvin Clark. Dr. Clark was a grandfatherly man in his mid 60’s with white hair and kind eyes. Before moving into administration, he had been one of the best pediatric specialists on the West Coast. He was trained at the University of Washington and practiced for a time in his hometown of Vancouver, WA. He moved to LA 10 years before when the cold and rainy Pacific Northwest weather got to be too much for his wife. His office was decorated with pictures of his family and friends as well as hand-drawn pictures from his grandchildren both biological and honorary.

Ellie opened the door and stuck her head in, “You asked to see me, Cal?”

“Yes, Ellie, please come in and take a seat,” He stood, gesturing to a small sofa in his office as he walked around his desk taking a seat in an armchair kitty-corner to the small sofa. His usually jovial expression had turned sad as he met her eyes, “What I’m about to tell you, might be hard. About an hour ago we received a patient via helicopter, a gunshot victim who was unconscious upon arrival. They got through surgery with no complications and very minor damage to the upper chest where he'd been hit. We think he may have struck his head when he fell after being shot, because he slipped into a coma while in the recovery room.”

“So, are you needing me to do a consult?” Ellie inquired, curious as to why this would have required her to be called into the Chief’s office.

“In this instance, it would not be considered wise nor ethical,” Calvin sighed, “The patient is your brother, Chuck.”

Ellie gasped as tears began to run down her face, she felt the older man take her hand gently in his own, giving her a soft squeeze to reassure her. A move he’d likely done for his children and grandchildren throughout their lives. It calmed her some, the quiet comfort he was offering while she pulled herself together. As her tears began to subside, she felt a tissue being pressed into her hand. “Where... where is he now?”

“Second floor,” Calvin informed her “Room 216, his girlfriend came in, escorted by who I can only guess is a friend or perhaps a brother or cousin. In any event, they’re in the room with him. Ellie, she was with Chuck when it happened, so she’s very shaken up right now.”

“Oh, okay,” Ellie nodded quietly, wiping the last of her tears with the tissue.

“I’ve put you on paid leave for the next few days so you can take care of your family, if after that point, you feel up to returning to work, I won’t stop you.” Calvin informed her, “I know this is a lousy time of year for this kind of thing to happen, but hopefully he’ll wake up soon, God willing, in time for Christmas.”

Ellie nodded her agreement, “Thank you for letting me know. I’m going to go change and see Chuck.”

“I can offer leave for Devon, too, if you would like,” Cal offered.

“I’ll let him know to contact you if he wants to take some,” Ellie gave the older man a tight smile.

Calvin could tell there was something wrong between the two doctors, but let it pass figuring it was none of his business unless it wound up effecting operations around the hospital. Both Dr. Bartowski and Dr. Woodcomb were professionals, so he doubted he would need to address whatever their current premarital spat might be. “You let me know if you need anything. Even if it’s just asking Arlene to bake up a lasagna or something that will last you a few days so you don’t have to worry about cooking.”

“Thanks, Cal, but I don’t think that will be necessary,” Ellie assured him, standing to her feet. She wavered a bit, causing Calvin to stand swiftly and wrap her in his arms to prevent her from falling. Luckily, she didn’t pass out, but wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder as he let the hug continue, rubbing her back and cooing reassuring nothings to her as he had done many times over the years for his children, grandchildren, and even the children of his son’s best friend, the eldest of whom was his son’s Goddaughter. Once he felt and heard the sobs subside, he stepped back, wiping the tears from the younger doctor’s eyes with his thumbs.

“Feel better?” He asked softly.

“No, but I will be once Chuck wakes up,” Ellie gave him a sad smile and made her way to the door.

“Take care of yourself, Ellie,” Calvin advised walking with her and opening the door for her, “And again, let me know if there is anything Arline or I can do for you.”

“Okay,” Ellie nodded and took her leave. Twenty minutes later, she was emerging from the women’s locker room freshly showered and changed and heading toward the second floor and her brother’s room.


	3. Chapter 3

Sarah sat next to Chuck’s bed, his IV-free hand wrapped in hers, as she watched the steady rise and fall of his chest. He was still intubated from surgery as a precaution, but the doctor assured them it would be removed if he started fighting the machine, or better woke up. Casey was leaned up against the wall by the door, arms crossed over his chest, head down and eyes closed as if resting but the set of his shoulders gave away how alert he really was.

“Casey, why don’t you just go home?” Sarah asked softly, turning to meet his eyes, “Chuck’s not going anywhere for a while and at least one of us should try to get some rest. Not to mention it would seem a little odd for you to be here when he was supposedly shot trying to prevent a mugging when we were out on a date.”

Casey grunted his acknowledgement and pushed up off the wall, “I’ll brief Beckman and catch forty. I’ll relieve you at...” He checked his watch, “...0200; no one should be here then, and I can set up surveillance.”

“Casey, that’s only five hours,” Sarah shook her head, “I’ll be fine here if you get a full night and come back around eight.”

Casey grunted again, the number twenty-nine _I’m going to agree with you but do what I want in the end because I haven’t the patience to fight you right now._

Sarah just rolled her eyes and nodded toward the door indicating for him to leave. Once the door shut behind him, she reached out and brushed a curl off Chuck’s forehead. He’d let his hair grow out quite a bit, likely in a brotherly attempt to annoy Ellie, and was probably planning to get it cut closer to the wedding. Unfortunately, the products he had been using to try to keep his curls under control normally left his hair looking more like a helmet than the soft curls she’d fallen in love with over the past year and a half. Oh, who was she kidding, she fell in love with him practically at first sight, his goofily charming grin, his adorable curls, but most of all the way he looked at her with so much love in his eyes that it made her knees go weak.

He’d never hidden how he felt for her either, everything he did and said, echoed the depths of his feelings for her. She’d come to rely on him so much in their short time together, despite the unfortunate farce the CIA and NSA had made of what could have been a beautiful relationship. If he didn’t wake up, he’d never see his sister get married, wouldn’t be there to walk her down the aisle, Ellie would be devastated. Hell, Sarah would be devastated, despite the clear impossibility for them to have a real relationship in the foreseeable future, a small part of her still held out hope that one day he might be free of the Intersect and the governmental strings attached to it, including the mandates and restrictions put on their ‘relationship.’ She so wanted to one day just be his Sarah, she wanted to leave the CIA and have that simple, uncomplicated life a future with him promised.

Of course, she knew that could never happen. Not so long as the baby was still in danger from Ryker, who even now was trying to find her. She still wasn’t sure if leaving the baby with her mother was the best thing to have done, granted with the limited resources she’d had to work with, it was the safest solution she could find. There was still that niggling feeling that she had done to that baby what Chuck and Ellie’s mom had done to them, but that was a little ridiculous, wasn’t it? The baby wasn’t her child... at least not biologically, but it was impossible to bond at that level over the course of 36 hours, right?

Pushing the choking guilt back down and shaking the doubts from her head once more, she returned her focus to Chuck’s still form in the bed. The soft whoosh of the ventilator and the steady rhythm of the heart monitor creating a soothing melody, assuring her that Chuck was still alive. “I really hope you wake up soon,” She sighed, giving his hand a gentle squeeze, “There’s so much I want to tell you... and one thing I can never tell you, although I think deep down you know what it is.”

Sarah shot a quick look over her shoulder to make sure that the coast was clear before rising from her seat and pressing a soft kiss to his cheek, “I love you, always,” She whispered in his ear, knowing that he likely couldn’t hear her but nonetheless feeling better for being able to speak the words out loud when nothing and no one could hear her.

* * *

Ellie stopped at the nurse’s station and took a quick peak at her brother’s charts, smiling softly when she saw his vitals looked good. Although something about his EEG was bothering her. At a quick glance it appeared normal, but upon closer inspection, his theta, alpha, and gamma wave patterns were showing a slightly elevated pattern of activity. She would need to discuss this with the neurologist assigned to his case. He might hate her for it, but when he finally came out of the coma, she was going to insist that they run some tests to make sure the elevated activity wasn’t something to be concerned over. She returned the chart to the file rack and let the charge nurse know she was going to be in her brother’s room if anyone needed her.

Entering the room, she couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her brother’s girlfriend asleep, head resting on their joined hands. Apparently, Sarah was a light sleeper because, despite Ellie’s attempt to close the door quietly, the soft click of the latch on the strike plate woke her.

“Hey,” Ellie gave the younger woman a soft smile, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“No, it’s okay,” Sarah assured her, “I must have just dozed off there for a sec.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner,” Ellie winced, “They only just told me a half hour ago and I needed to change out of my scrubs and wash off the general ick that sticks to me over the course of my shift. The last thing we need is for Chuck to get an infection because of something I'd come into contact with at work.”

“It’s okay, Ellie,” Sarah gave her a small smile, “I figured you would come as soon as you could. Where’s Devon?”

“Don’t know,” Ellie shrugged, “We had a bit of a disagreement just before I was called into the chief’s office to be notified about Chuck, and he stormed off. What happened, Dr. Clark just said he’d been shot?”

“We were walking to the car and some guy tried to hold us up,” Sarah sighed, “He had a gun and seemed really jumpy. Next thing I knew, I hear the gun go off, and see your idiot brother jump in front of me. The robber freaked out and took off when he realized he’d shot Chuck. Chuck saved my life, it should have been me in that bed, not him.”

“Hey, this was not your fault,” Ellie assured her, crouching down and laying her hand on Sarah’s leg, “That robber made his own choices, and my brother, brave idiot that he is, chose to protect you.”

“He shouldn’t have done that,” Sarah pouted.

“Probably not, but there’s nothing we can do about it now,” Ellie shrugged, “How’d you get here, did you ride in the helicopter or...”

“No,” Sarah shook her head, “I didn’t want him to be alone. He was still conscious when they loaded him in, but the paramedics said there wasn’t room. I called Casey and he gave me a ride; I was too upset to drive.”

“But why a helicopter?” Ellie mused, “You were in the city, right? You would think they would have dispatched an ambulance.”

“Dunno,” Sarah shrugged, “Maybe one of the cops requested it? Maybe they thought Chuck’s injuries were life threatening or something?

“Maybe,” Ellie agreed with a sigh and stood up, noticing that Sarah had been wearing scrubs, which cold only mean her clothes had been covered in blood by the time they’d arrived. “You know, I have an extra set of clothes in my locker, if you’d like to borrow them.”

“I’m okay,” Sarah shook her head, “I’m actually quite comfortable.”

“Okay,” Ellie nodded and moved over to the window seat since it seemed Sarah had no plans to move anytime soon. She really couldn’t blame her, they had been together for a year and a half, but Ellie was having to fight the frustration of not being able to sit with her brother who in many ways was like her own child. She liked Sarah and knew at some point she would have to let her brother go, but it was hard, especially now that she was seeing her usually lively brother lying motionless in his hospital bed.

She must have drifted off at some point because the next thing she knew, she was waking up to early morning light streaming through the blinds covering the window. Someone, probably the nurse, had given her a pillow and covered her with a blanket. Even her shoes had been slipped off her feet and set next to the window seat. She even had been moved into a laying position. She yawned and checked her watch to see it was six in the morning. Looking over toward Chuck’s bed revealed that Sarah must have either gone home or to the bathroom at some point.

Ellie slowly pushed herself up until she was sitting once more on the window seat. Slipping her feet into her flats she stood and brushed her hands down the front of her blouse, checking to make sure it wasn’t too wrinkled before shrugging on her lucky sweater to ward off the cool morning air. Walking over to the seat that Sarah had vacated, she took a seat and wrapped her brother’s hand in hers, watching the monitors to check for any changes that may have occurred. It was then she noticed the note taped to the heart rate monitor.

_Ellie,_

_Sorry I hogged Chuck so much last night, I was so upset it didn’t occur to me that you probably wanted to have some time with him. I am taking a cab home to get some sleep, shower, and change before work. I’ll be back this afternoon after my shift. I called Morgan last night to have him pick up the Nerd Herder from the restaurant._

_-Sarah_

Ellie smiled as she read the letter and settled in to spend time with her brother.


	4. Chapter 4

The sound of ‘Reveille’ playing on his cell phone startled him awake as he rolled over and checked the time; 03:30, time to get up to relieve Walker and set up the surveillance equipment while the nurses were less likely to catch him. Thanks to his USMC training, he was up, showered, shaved, and dressed in his typical dark jeans, and a slate grey t-shirt in less than 15 minutes. Down stairs, he pulled on and laced up his boots, grabbed a bag and loaded it with a few listening and video devices before shrugging on his black Carhart jacket and heading back to Westside Medical.

As expected, when he arrived on the second floor, the charge desk nearest Chuck’s room was vacant. A quick glance down the hall showed that the nurses were making their rounds, He’d have to ask Walker if a nurse had checked on Chuck recently. Silently opening the door, he found Walker exactly where he’d left her next to the kid’s bed, her head resting on their joined hands. A quick glance around the room revealed that Ellie had fallen asleep sitting up on the window seat.

“Walker,” He spoke softly so as to not to wake the sleeping doctor.

“Huh, what?” Walker murmured as she yawned and sat up again, turning to see him standing over her, “Hey Casey, what time is it?”

“04:15,” Casey grunted, “Wanted to get the surveillance set up before it got too busy around here. Besides, you’ve bogarted the asset long enough, or did you not notice that his sister fell asleep waiting her turn?”

Sarah got a guilty look on her face as she turned to see Ellie, arms loosely crossed over her abdomen and head down, chin resting above her clavicle, and legs extended out and crossed at the ankles. “I was just trying to maintain surveillance.” She attempted to protest.

Casey grunted to indicate he didn’t believe her but wasn’t going to call her out on it. “Since you’ve been on watch all night, I’ll take over. Go home, get some rest, and take a shower, you still have a little blood under your nails.”

“Fine, but I’ll be back later.” Sarah huffed, standing and stretching until her back gave a few audible pops. She walked over to the closet and pulled out the plastic bag holding her bloodstained clothes and, pausing a moment to write a quick note and tape it to the heart monitor, headed out the door.

Casey took in the room, evaluating it for the best locations for the video surveillance and audio bugs and deciding three would be enough. One would be pointed toward the kid and wide enough to capture the monitor displaying his stats, the second would be pointed toward the door, and the third to the window, he knew the last one was a bit superfluous as they were on a higher floor with little to no possibility of exterior access. However, throughout his life whether it was from his father on camping trips, his scout leaders from Cub Scouts all the way up to earning his Eagle medal, he was taught to always be prepared. Later on, from his instructors at Annapolis to his superiors in the USMC and NSA, he was told to err on the side of caution.

Before he could get started, there was one more thing he needed to do. He pulled a pillow and blanket from the storage cabinet where Walker had kept her soiled mission gear and carried them to the window seat. He laid the pillow up against one side of the seat and set the blanket on a nearby chair. Moving slowly and smoothly so as to not wake her, he braced one knee on the cushion and slid one arm under her legs and the other behind her back, lifting her enough to rotate and lay her down on the seat. He slipped her shoes off her feet, noticing the bright red pedicure she’d gotten the previous weekend in honor of the upcoming holiday, and set them on the floor beside the makeshift bed. He then picked up the blanket, unfolding it and laying it over the sleeping form of his neighbor. She shifted in her sleep until she was laying on her side, facing him, causing a lock of hair to fall over her face. His fingers itched to push it behind her ear, he cast a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure that no one would see before he reached out and ghosted his rough fingertips over her soft cheek until her hair was secured once more. In the low light of the room, he couldn’t help but notice how breathtakingly beautiful she was.

He’d noticed before, of course, but she was firmly off limits. Not only was she the asset’s sister, but she was engaged to someone else. Despite her fiancé also being a doctor, the pair really didn’t seem to have much in common, but it wasn’t his place to judge these things. So, every day he did his level best to not stare too long at the Venus that lived across the courtyard from him, attempted to ignore the desire that twisted in his gut every time she turned that amazing smile his way. He tried, and often failed, to forget how the beautiful melody of her voice was like angels singing from on high. She was taken, indisputably so, he just hoped the moron she was set on marrying treated her right.

Shaking his head to clear it from the thoughts that swirled around him, begging for his attention, he got back to his task at hand. He’d forgotten to ask Walker when the kid had last been checked on, but the whiteboard by the door listed his vitals as of the last check along with the nurse’s initials and a time stamp of a half an hour before. He should be able to complete his task uninterrupted. It only took him 12 minutes to get everything placed and focused correctly so that they wouldn’t be noticed by anyone but would notice everything they were set up to. A quick check of his phone confirmed the links were up and broadcasting clearly.

“Heal up quick, kid,” He grunted and headed toward the door. He allowed himself one last glance at the angel sleeping on the window seat before taking his leave and heading home to monitor the kid from the comfort of his own living room, far away from the temptation that existed in the small eight by ten room currently occupied by the siblings Bartowski.


	5. Chapter 5

Ellie had sat with her brother into the late afternoon, monitoring his vitals and discussing prognosis and treatment with the doctors and nurses who came to check on him periodically. The Chief of Medicine himself had even stopped by to check up on them a couple times, once in the morning, claiming that he’d ordered two coffees and two pastries from the coffee shop before remembering his wife wasn’t going to be joining him that morning. The next time was just after the lunch hour carrying a bottle of water and a sandwich from the cafeteria, but that time he had no excuses other than to say he figured she probably would have lost track of time and forgotten to eat. She had huffed a quick laugh as the man stood waiting for her to unwrap and take a bite of her sandwich. She also noticed that both times he’d stopped by, he’d paused near the foot of Chuck’s bed, placing his hand on the younger man’s leg and bowed his head for a few moments before giving her a warm smile and excusing himself.

Sarah had arrived later that afternoon to take over so Ellie could go home and rest. Ellie had protested saying that she could just crash on the window seat again, but Sarah insisted she get some real sleep in her own bed. After several rounds of the argument, Ellie finally relented and headed home.

When she pulled into the apartment complex where she lived in Echo Park with her fiancé and brother, she noticed that Devon’s car was parked outside and sighed. She always hated that first conversation after they’d fought, Devon was usually still a bit petulant and refused to take responsibility for his part in their arguments. She locked the door of her car and headed into the courtyard, trying to take her time, hoping the foliage that surrounded the interior shared space and the fountain that sat in the center of the complex would calm her a bit before heading inside.

Before she could even hang her purse on the hook by the door, Devon came rushing into the living room, “Where have you been?” He demanded.

“At the hospital,” Ellie stated, “I’m sorry I forgot to call you, I got distracted by everything that was going on.”

“No, you weren’t, I called the hospital, they said you were taken off the schedule for today,” Devon countered.

“I wasn’t working, Devon,” She sighed, “I was with Chuck.”

“So now you were with Chuck? Great, that’s just great,” Devon huffed and paced a bit before turning to face her again, “Are you cheating on me?”

Ellie flinched back as if she’d been slapped by his accusation and blinked a few times before answering, “What the hell kind of question is that?”

“Well, you haven’t been acting like yourself lately, you’ve been distant. On top of that, you didn’t come home last night.” Devon accused, “Then you said you were at the hospital all day, and now you’re changing your story to say you were with Chuck.”

“So, you automatically assume I’m having an affair?” She scoffed, “Devon, Chuck was shot last night, he’s in the hospital.”

“I wish I could believe you,” Devon shook his head, “But there’s just too much that isn’t adding up.”

“Well, I don’t know what else to tell you, Devon,” Ellie shrugged, “I haven’t lied to you, check the admitting records, you’ll see Chuck was rushed to the hospital last night, that’s why Dr. Clark called me into his office. He even checked on Chuck and me a couple times today. If you ask him, he’ll tell you the same thing.”

“Wow, that’s really low, Ellie,” Devon practically growled, “Using Dr. Clark as an alibi to hide what you were really up to.”

“It’s the truth Devon, I have never lied to you.” Ellie shook her head, doing her best to hold back the tears that threatened to fall. This was the last thing she needed after the previous 24 hours, “I don’t know where all this is coming from, but if you can’t believe me when I’m telling you the truth, maybe we should reconsider where this relationship is going.”

“Maybe I should go stay with Gavin tonight,” Devon countered.

“Maybe you should,” She sighed, not wanting to fight anymore. She watched Devon storm back toward their room before returning a short time later, overnight bag in hand.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” Devon spoke low, not even meeting her eyes before taking his exit.

Ellie continued to stare at the door for another several minutes, confused over what had just happened. How had they gone from arguing over wedding plans the night before to Devon leaving to stay with one of his frat bros? It was the last thing she needed on top of everything else that was going on with her brother, but maybe some time apart would help her, and Devon, put things into perspective. She slowly made her way toward her bedroom, falling on the bed and curling up in a ball. She hadn’t felt this lost since the day she realized her father had left her senior year of high school and wasn’t coming back, leaving her to raise her, then, 13-year-old brother.

Taking solace in the fact the house was empty, and no one could hear her, she let herself let go of everything she had been holding in. Not only her brother being shot and falling into a coma, but the lack of trust Devon had in her, the stress and frustration over the wedding... was there even going to be a wedding anymore? Devon had called her distant, and said she’d not been acting like herself, but she had no idea where he’d come up with that. Every time she was home, she was pouring herself into taking care of him and his needs. Not only him but Chuck, and Morgan, too, because she had to admit, the bearded one was at her place more often than he was home with his own mother.

Any time she wasn’t at the hospital she was at home, cleaning, or cooking. Being a friend and a sister and a fiancée, while the guys were off doing whatever it was they did when they weren’t at home or at work. Chuck was usually off with Sarah, and good for him, she was glad he’d found someone who loved her brother for the nerdy, shy, wonderful man she always knew he was.

Devon was always off on trips with his frat buddies, sky diving, rafting, rock climbing, or any number of dangerous activities they did for fun. She never could understand the appeal for him, and every time he left for one of his trips, she was worried the next call she would get would be from a hospital saying that he’d gotten injured or worse. A part of her always wondered if she was enough for him, if he would be better off with someone who shared his interest in adventurous activities. Would he be willing to put the dangerous stuff aside when they had kids, or would she be stuck having to explain how Daddy got hurt or killed chasing his next adrenaline high? With a sigh, she turned over and tried to quiet the thoughts in her head before eventually drifting off into a fitful sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

The alert that chimed from his computer indicating that there was movement in the courtyard pulled him away from where he sat, trimming his bonsai, to check the feed. He saw Ellie enter and slowly make her way to her apartment and watched as she tiredly pulled her keys from her purse and unlock the door. He told himself he was just watching out of concern for the asset’s sister’s metal wellbeing after the events of the last day. The last thing he had expected was to immediately hear Devon demanding that Ellie tell him where she’d been.

What made it worse was that the Doctor couldn’t or wouldn’t believe what his fiancée was telling him to the point he accused her of having an affair. Casey had to resist going over there and knocking some sense into the young cardiologist, to even think that Ellie would cheat on her fiancé was sheer lunacy. What surprised him even more was the Devon had wound up packing a bag and leaving to stay with a friend for the night.

Casey continued to watch the feed from the interior of the apartment as Ellie stared at the door a few minutes as if lost in thought before making her way back to her bedroom. He felt a twinge of something deep in his gut when he saw her curl up on her bed and begin to cry. Whether it was due to her brother being shot, the arguments she’d been having off and on with Devon as of late, or something else, he couldn’t help but feel for the young woman. He’d experienced that feeling of losing control and having nothing in his world seem right; the same way he figured Ellie was feeling as he saw her began to calm and roll over on her back before eventually drifting off to sleep.

Casey didn’t know what to do. Part of him wanted to dash over to Bartowski’s apartment and wrap Ellie in his arms in an attempt to comfort her, but he knew there was no way to explain away how he knew about her and Devon’s verbal altercation just a short time before. Besides, it wasn’t his place to anything. He began searching for something, anything, else to do other than sitting at his monitoring station watching over Ellie like some pervert.

It only took a few moments before his mind drifted back to a memory from childhood, being in his Baba’s kitchen watching her pulling a large casserole dish down mixing and sauteing items before putting everything into the dish and covering it to bake. He’d asked what she was doing, and she had told him in her accented English that Mr. Ivanov’s wife, from down the street, had fallen and broken her leg, so she, and a few of the other women from church, were making casseroles for him and his family until Mrs. Ivanova could get back on her feet again.

He thought over the idea for a while, and decided that, considering Ellie knew he was aware of Bartowski’s hospitalization, it might be a plausible reason for him to make a little something for her and, ostensibly, Devon to eat. She seemed to enjoy it when he brought items over for her to try, like his mini quiches, or the pie he’d brought with him for the most recent Thanksgiving festivities. It at least would give him an excuse to check on her, make sure she was doing okay, all things considered. Satisfied with his logic, he made his way into his kitchen to take inventory. After a quick perusal of his fridge and cabinets, he discovered he had enough for a small batch of chicken and dumplings. Pulling down a casserole dish, ironically, one his Baba had given him when he’d moved out on his own, he began the preparations for the casserole.

Two hours later found him, warm casserole balanced on one arm, knocking on Ellie’s door. He heard movement from deep within the apartment followed a few moments later by the sound of the deadbolt being turned and the door being pulled open. Ellie looked exhausted from the emotional onslaught she’d been dealing with since being informed of her brother’s hospitalization. Her hair had been pulled back in a messy bun and had pieces of hair sticking up at odd angles and some that had slipped out of whatever doodad she’d used to secure it back. Although she’d washed her face clean of makeup and the tears she’d been shedding since Devon left earlier that afternoon, he could still see the red around her eyes and the faint tear tracks that the water hadn’t fully cleared away. At some point she had changed into a pair of leggings and an old MIT sweatshirt that must have belonged to her father at some point. She was clearly surprised when she recognized who was standing at her door.

“John?” She gasped, eyeing him curiously, “What are you doing here?”

“I heard about Chuck, and I remember when my dad got wounded, my mom wasn’t really up for cooking so,” He shrugged and held out the casserole dish toward her, “Figured you and Devon might appreciate this.”

“Oh,” She responded quietly, accepting the casserole. “Um, thank... thank you, John. That was nice of you to think of me, um us, I mean us. Be... because there’s still and us, or at least I think there’s still an us...”

Casey had heard Bartowski’s infamous spirals enough to recognize one, even when it was coming from the kid’s sister. From him it was an annoyance, but from her, despite the desperate tenner of her voice, it was adorable. Casey mentally kicked himself for the thought, this was not the time and it was not his place to think of such things, but the way she was looking at him with those big blue-green eyes as if he held all the answers was making him feel things; things he had no right to be feeling.

“Ellie,” Casey spoke softly as if to an easily spooked filly, “Take a breath,” He waited while Ellie took a shuttering breath but still looked, understandably, shaken. “Here, give me this, may I come inside?” He took the casserole dish out of her hands and nodded toward the interior of her apartment.

When Ellie nodded her consent, he followed her inside and set the casserole on the kitchen table before turning to look at Ellie who still lingered by the door as if lost.

“Ellie,” Her head shot up at his gentle use of her name, “Come take a seat, you look like you’re about to pass out.” She did as she was instructed and sat on the sofa as he’d gestured for her to do. Once she was settled on one end of the couch, Casey settled himself into the nearby armchair. “Good girl, now take a deep breath, four beats in, hold it for two, then let it out, slowly.”

Ellie did as she was told, taking a long slow breath in, holding it, and slowly let it out. Under Casey’s instruction, this was repeated a few times until she had calmed down some.

“Better?” He asked.

Ellie shrugged.

“I know your brother being in the hospital is hard on you,” Casey spoke, voice low, “My dad was wounded a few times when I was growing up, he was military then later a police officer. I remember how helpless I felt seeing him, lying there, with all those tubes and wires. My ma was a wreck every time, but she’d sit with him every time, chiding him about how stupid he was for getting hurt and didn’t he know he had a family to take care of?” He smiled softly at the memory. “I know it’s a different situation, but I can understand a little bit of what you’re going through.”

Ellie nodded, “You’d think I’d be used to seeing someone hooked up to all the equipment, the ventilator, the heart monitor, even the IV, but...”

“...It’s different when it’s your kin in that bed,” Casey nodded.

“Yeah, it is,” Ellie nodded.

“Besides, you know better than anyone the quality of doctors working at Westside,” Casey gave her a kind smile, “Your brother is in good hands, especially with you and Walker in his corner fighting for him.”

“I can’t lose him, John,” She shook her head sadly, “He’s the only family I have left.”

“We both know that’s not true,” Casey protested, “You still have Devon and Sarah, and I’d like to think we’re friends.” He added the last with a hopeful note.

Ellie looked up and gave him a small smile, “Of course, we’re friends, John.” Her face fell a little, “But I’m not completely sure I still have Devon.” She sighed, “We got into a bit of an argument when I got home, and he packed a bag and left… He said he would call tomorrow, but things have been so strained for us lately, especially since his folks’ visit last week. Did you know he just sat there and let them railroad me?”

“I don’t know much about relationships,” Casey shrugged, “I mean I was engaged once, but it didn’t work out. We didn’t even get to the planning stage like you and Devon, so I don’t know that that’s like. What I do know is what I learned from watching my own parents as well as spending time with my Baba and Deda growing up. Marriage is, above all things, a partnership and the base of all partnerships is trust. Love is a great thing, but if you don’t have that foundation of trust, it isn’t going to last.”

Ellie nodded her understanding, “So, what should I do?”

“I can’t tell you that,” Casey shook his head, “All I can do is suggest you take a step back, take this time apart to really think about if this is the right step for the both of you. If it is, great, if it’s not, it’s probably best to know that before anyone gets hurt more than they already are.”

“Okay,” Ellie looked up at him with an evaluating look, “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk this much in the whole time I’ve known you.”

“Yeah, well,” Casey shrugged, “I usually don’t have much to say.”

“But when you do, it makes people think,” Ellie stated then smirked.

“What?” Casey asked, not sure what the look she was giving him meant.

“You’re like Silent Bob,” She explained with a small chuckle, “You don’t say much, but when you do, it’s usually something important.”

“I don’t think I’d go that far,” Casey shook his head, then noticed the clock on the wall, “I’d better get going. I have to unload the truck in the morning, so I need to get some sleep.”

“Okay, well, thank you for the casserole, it’s too bad you can’t enjoy it, too.” Ellie gave him a soft smile as she led him to the door, “Good night, John.”

“Good night, Ellie,” John gave her a small smile and a respectful nod before heading back across the courtyard to his apartment to try to get some sleep before he had to wake up and perform surveillance on Bartowski’s room.


	7. Chapter 7

It had been  nearly two weeks of Ellie sitting all day with Chuck and going home to an empty apartment every night. Devon had called her the morning after he left saying that he needed a little time to think about things. Ellie had tried to get him to come home so that they could at least try to talk it out, but he told her that he was going  to a cabin his  buddy owned up in the mountains to clear his head. She  hadn’t heard from him since, not  a big surprise , as she  doubted he had much cell reception where he was going.

Ellie had spent a lot of her time with Chuck in self-reflection about what she wanted her future to look like. She knew for certain, she wanted Chuck to be there, and was hopeful that he would be. Adding to her hope was that Chuck was now no longer intubated and was breathing on his own. His brain wave activity was still running high, but there was really nothing else that could be done to assess why that was until her brother regained consciousness. Until then, she would sit next to him and help to exercise his muscles to keep them from atrophying too much while he slept.

She also envisioned getting married and having children of her own, but now she wasn’t sure about if Devon would be or wanted to be a part of that future.  With a sigh she sat back and watched the monitors tracking her brother’s vitals. A knock on the door startled her turning to see who it was, she was surprised to see a rather nervous looking Devon dressed in his usual scrubs and lab coat.

“Hi,” He spoke shyly, “Mind if I come in?”

“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere soon,” Ellie lifted one shoulder in a small shrug, “Did you just get back from  the cabin ?”

“Uh, yeah,” He scratched the back of his neck, uncomfortably, “Got back a few days ago.”

“Okay,” Ellie nodded, turning back to the monitors, and staying silent a few moments before speaking again, “You know, it wasn’t an intentional thing, me not calling you.”

“Yeah, I realized that about the time I was half-way to the mountains ,” He admitted sheepishly, “I know now that you were probably in shock and could only focus on your little bro. I was just too embarrassed over what I’d accused you of. I know you would never do that.”

“That thought had to come from somewhere,” She pointed out.

“Yeah,” Devon sighed, taking a seat on the window seat and resting his elbows on his knees, “My dad may have mentioned in passing that it might be a reason for you not being involved in the wedding planning.”

“Oh, he did, did he?” She narrowed her eyes at him, “Did it ever occur to any of you that I might want to actually have a say in my own wedding? I appreciate that your folks are willing to help pay for it, but I should still have some say, it is my wedding, after all. I just don’t feel like anyone is listening when I speak.”

“I hear ya, Babe, I do,” Devon nodded, “But you have to understand, my parents have a certain reputation they need to uphold. They have a lot of influential friends they are inviting, and a casual beach wedding with a potluck reception back at the apartment just isn’t going to cut it.”

“ But why do their friends even have to come at all?” Ellie protested, “I just… I think that the wedding and reception should be more of a reflection of who we are than who your parents are. We are not your parents, and I hope we aren’t like my parents.” She sighed, “We aren’t super-formal, fancy people. I know that was the way you were raised, but I’m a simple person and I like simple and low-key things. I don’t need some fancy to-do in order to get married to you.”

“Yeah, but a wedding is a big deal,” Devon countered, “We should make it special.”

“And who’s to say an intimate wedding at the beach and a casual reception won’t be special?” Ellie asked, “Can you at least talk to your parents about this? Get them to back off a little? I’d honestly settle for you having my back when we are in these planning sessions with  your parents.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Devon sighed, “But I don’t know how much I can do, the ball’s already rolling on a lot of this stuff.”

“So, we lose a few deposits,” Ellie shrugged, “If your parents are really that concerned about it, we can pay them back for any deposit they lose by letting us celebrate our wedding the way we want to.”

“What if I don’t want to celebrate our wedding that way?” Devon challenged, “What if I want the big fancy formal wedding?”

“Then we need to sit down, just the two of us and see if we can find a compromise,” Ellie stated definitively, “In fact, we should sit down, just the two of us, away from the hospital, and away from my brother and your parents. I don’t know when things started to change between us, but we haven’t really connected in a long time. I think we really need to figure out if we are still on track and moving in the same direction. I would hate to be five years down the line and wake up realizing the man I  married is a complete stranger to me.”

“Where is that coming from?” Devon looked shocked, “We’re fine.”

“No, we’re not fine, Devon,” Ellie sighed exasperatedly, “That’s what I’m saying, even before everything that’s happened the last few weeks, we’ve seemed off. I know some of that is our schedules right now, but it seems like every time we have a mutual day or two off, you’re off with your frat buddies throwing yourselves out of airplanes, or scaling cliffs with no rope, or whatever it is you do when you’re out with them.”

“So, I’m not allowed to see my friends, now?” Devon asked, looking a bit irritated.

“No,” She groaned, “That’s not what I’m saying. I just would like you to prioritize spending time with me once in a while. We’re supposed to be getting married in four months, but sometimes it feels as if it’s some arbitrary box you want to check off. Go to college, check. Go to med school, check. Get a cardiothoracic fellowship, check. Meet a girl, check. Get married by 35... Do you really want to marry me, or are you just doing it because you think it’s what is expected of you?”

“That’s unfair,” Devon frowned.

“I don’t think it is,” Ellie shook her head, “And I really don’t think my questions are invalid all things considered. I really don’t want to get into all of it here, what time are you off? Sarah should be here soon so I can go home to shower and sleep, do you think you’ll be off in time to come home and talk?”

“I think you’re blowing things way out of proportion,” Devon rolled his eyes, “But I’ll see what I can do. Barring any emergencies, I should be off by seven, I can swing by the apartment around eight. Does that work for you?”

“I’ll be waiting,” Ellie nodded.

“Great, now. If you don’t mind, I have to get back to work,” Devon stood and started toward the door only to draw up short when Sarah entered the room.

“Hi Ellie,” She gave the older woman a soft smile before noticing Devon standing before her and narrowing her eyes, “Devon.”

Devon looked between the two women confused as to the animosity he was receiving from Chuck’s girlfriend. She and Ellie weren’t that close, she couldn’t have possibly heard about his and Ellie’s fight. “Hi Sarah, how are you?”

“Fine,” She replied succinctly before turning to Ellie her expression softening but having a slight look of apprehension. “Um, Ellie would you mind stepping outside for a moment? There are some people here who would like to speak to you.”

Ellie looked between her brother and fiancé before nodding and following Sarah out into the corridor. Who she found there shocked her to her very core , “What are you doing here?”


	8. Chapter 8

Sarah looked between Ellie and the older couple, it was clear Ellie was related to them, she shared many features with the woman but had the man’s eyes. “It was supposed to be a surprise,” Sarah broke the silence, “Chuck was trying to find them for you as a kind of a wedding present. He told me that you always wanted your dad to walk you down the aisle and how close you were to your mom.”

“That may have been true, before they left,” She scowled at the couple.

“Oh boy. Um, perhaps we should have this discussion somewhere a bit more private?” The older man suggested. “It’s a bit of a long story.”

“Fine,” Ellie huffed and opened the door to Chuck’s room to let them in. Sarah entered first followed by the older couple. Devon had been sitting on the window seat waiting for Ellie to return so they could resume their discussion but stood in surprise when he saw the older woman enter.

“Frost?!” He gasped, shocked.

Sarah’s eyes widened, not only at the slight accent that had slipped into Devon’s speech, but also in recognition of the code name as she turned to the older woman while Ellie gave her mother a confused look.

“Dimitri,” The older woman responded, coolly.

“Mom, who’s Dimitri?” Ellie looked at her mother.

“Him,” Mary gestured to where Devon stood, “Dimitri Mikhailov, I sent him to watch over you.”

“I’m sorry, you ‘sent him?’” Ellie gave her an incredulous look, “And who is Frost?”

“That would be me, Dear,” Mary calmly explained, “It’s the name I use at work.”

Before the conversation could go any further the machine monitoring Chuck’s brainwave activity began beeping at an alarming rate as his eyes began darting rapidly under his eyelids as if in a deep REM cycle. The medical team caring for Chuck arrived a moment later, but by then the beeping had stopped, and his eyes were still once more. The nurse went to check his vitals and aside from a slightly elevated and now slowing heart rate, everything was within the normal range for someone in his condition. 

Doctor Klein, the neurologist assigned to Chuck’s case, began to look over the readouts from the portable EEG, he seemed bewildered at what he was thinking and turned toward Ellie, “Doctor Bartowski, would you mind taking a look at this?”

Curious as to what could possibly have the other doctor so flummoxed, Ellie made her way around the bed to look at the graph that had printed. As they had shown before, Chuck’s Beta, Theta, and Gamma waves were slightly elevated but showed an intense spike in activity for a time frame of 2.6 seconds before dropping back to where they had been.

“Have you ever seen anything like this before?” Dr. Klein looked toward her, running one of his hands through his greying brown hair nervously.

“Never,” Ellie shook her head, “But it makes me want to make sure some extensive brain scans are done once he comes out of the coma. I would like to know what triggered such an episode, though.”

“Was he seizing at all?” He asked.

“Not that I could tell. So, at least it wasn’t a grand mal seizure,” Ellie shook her head, “But he was experiencing REM as if he were dreaming. Perhaps he had a petit mal, is that even possible in a coma? Although, that doesn’t quite fit, either since he’s an adult with no history of epilepsy, nor did his fall result in a traumatic brain injury, either.”

“Alright, we’ll just have to monitor him more closely for this kind of activity.” The doctor sighed, “I’ll see if I can’t find a similar case on record, maybe that will give us some kind of clue as to what we’re dealing with and a possible prognosis for his condition.”

“Thanks, Bernie,” Ellie gave him a small smile as he patted her on her shoulder with a sympathetic look before taking his leave.

“I have to get back to my rounds,” Devon spoke up, “If you’ll excuse me.”

“Wait,” Ellie called out, the tone in her voice making it clear it was an order, not a request, Devon turned back to face her, careful not to meet the eyes of the older brunette or younger blonde women currently glaring at him, “Before you go, who is Dimitri Mikhailov?”

Devon at least had the good sense to look ashamed, “Me, or it was my name before...”

“Before what?” Ellie narrowed her eyes at him, when it was clear he wasn’t going to explain further, she turned toward her mother, “Mom?”

“It’s a bit of a long story, but the short version was I sent him to keep an eye on you because I couldn’t,” Mary explained, “He was told to befriend you,” She cut a harsh glare to the young man, “Nothing more, it was never meant to advance this far.”

“You said to stay close to her,” Devon protested, his accent becoming clearer the more he spoke to the older woman, “It seemed like the best way to do that, I never expected...”

“Never expected what?” Ellie’s voice sent a shiver through the occupants of the room. If her looks alone weren’t evidence enough for Sarah to prove who her mother was, the way she controlled the room made it clear she really was the Frost Queen’s daughter. “For me to be so gullible as to fall... Did you ever really... Was this all just a job for you? Are you actually a doctor or was that a lie too? You know, I thought you were the worst liar in the world, I mean it was comical how ridiculous you sounded when trying to hide something from me... now,” She took a shuddering breath, “Now I know you’ve got to be one of the best liars I’ve ever met.”

Devon opened his mouth to protest but was cut off, “Leave, get out.” Ellie’s voice was cold, “Devon or Dimitri, or whoever you are, I can’t even look at you right now. You will come to the apartment tonight at 8, and we will be having that discussion. It could go either way for you, so you might want to spend whatever down time you have during the rest of your shift really thinking about what you are going to say. If I catch the barest hint that you are lying to me tonight, it will not end well for you, am I understood?”

Devon nodded silently and exited the room, closing the door quietly behind him. The room was silent a moment before Ellie turned toward her parents, “I don’t even know where to start with the two of you...”

“I know there’s a lot we need to tell you,” Mary started gently, “Why don’t we all sit down?”

“Ellie,” Sarah spoke softly, laying her hand on the older woman’s arm, “Why don’t you go home, have your folks meet you there, that way you can deal with whatever this is in private. I’ll stay with Chuck; I was coming in to kick you out so I could have my time with him, anyway.” She added trying to keep the tone of her voice light.

“Yeah," Ellie nodded with a small smile to the young woman she had started to consider a friend over the past year and a half, “Thanks, Sarah. Call me if he has another episode or anything changes?”

“Of course,” Sarah promised, “You go and have your talks with your folks and Devon. I’ll keep an eye on things here.”

“Thank you,” Ellie gave Sarah a hug then turned to her parents, “Did you drive here?”

“Yeah,” Stephen nodded.

“I live in Echo Park now, if I give you the address, would you be able to find it?” She inquired.

“I think we can manage,” Stephen gave her a small smile.

“Okay, I guess I’ll see you when we all get there?” She gave her parents an unsure look, “I will see you there, right?”

“Of course, Dear,” Mary assured her, “We’ll be right behind you.”

“I really wish I could believe that,” Ellie sighed before collecting her coat and purse and heading out the door, followed by her parents.

Sarah waited until the trio had exited the room and headed toward the elevator bay before taking her seat next to Chuck and wrapping his hand in her own, “I thought my family was screwed up,” She gave a light chuckle, “I feel bad for Ellie right now, she doesn’t have you to help her. She needs you more than you’ll ever know. I need you too, but I think you already know that, don’t you?” She sighed and ran her thumb over the back of his hand, “I really wish you’d wake up. I’d give anything to see those hazel eyes again, and your beautiful, knee weakening, smile.”

She sat watching him for a few moments, the beard that he had grown since the beginning of his coma was getting a bit bushy and she wondered if she’d be allowed to give him a trim. It was a bit of a different look for him, but not unpleasant. She had a feeling that if he had the compunction, he could probably challenge Morgan to a beard growing contest and it would be a close call as to who looked better. Granted, Morgan had more experience maintaining a beard, but Chuck was a quick study and would probably figure it out fast. Not wanting to call the nurses needlessly, she stood and bent over to press a kiss to the corner of Chuck’s mouth and move an errant curl off his forehead.

“I’m going to go see if they’ll let me clean you up a bit,” She whispered in his ear, “I’ll be back in a little bit. I love you and can’t wait for you to wake up so I can tell you for real.”

She stood and stretched before making her way to the nurse’s station on the off chance there was someone there. A young woman a few years younger than Sarah with auburn hair that she wore in a cute pixie cut and the navy scrubs that were the uniform for the nurses at the hospital. She was organizing files at the desk and looked up when she saw Sarah approach.

“Hi, can I help you?” She asked kindly.

“Yeah, my boyfriend is in 215, and his beard is starting to get a little out of control.” Sarah shrugged, “Would it be possible to, that is would I be allowed to give him a bit of a trim?”

“Oh yeah, that’s no problem at all,” The nurse nodded, “Do you need a razor and shaving cream?”

“No, not wanting to go that far,” Sarah shook her head, “I’ll just bring some clippers when I come back tomorrow or have his sister bring some when she gets in tomorrow. I was just wondering if it would be allowed.”

“Okay, just let us know,” The nurse gave her a soft smile, “That way we can bring you a towel to catch any hairs that are cut shorter, can’t have them falling all over him and making him itchy.”

“Good point,” Sarah chuckled, “Thanks for the tip.” Armed with her new knowledge she headed back into Chuck’s room to sit with him through the remainder of the night.


	9. Chapter 9

Ellie’s brain felt as if it were in a whirlwind so much had happened, and yet so much remained unclear. She felt as if her life was spinning out of control as she exited her car and slowly made her way into the courtyard. Not even the soothing trickle of the fountain could grant her an ounce of peace.

“Well, this is lovely,” Her mother’s calm, and slightly impressed, voice was akin to nails on a chalk board to her in that moment. “You seem to have done well for yourself, Ellie.”

“Are we really going to play this game?” Ellie gave her mother a sardonic look, “Where we pretend you give a shit about my life?”

“Watch your language,” Mary scolded.

Ellie rolled her eyes, “I think we’re a little beyond you correcting my language, don’t you think, Mom?”

“Eleanor, she’s still your mother,” Stephen pointed out gently, “She deserves a little respect.”

“Respect?” Ellie spat, “She abandoned us when I was fifteen years old, sent you into a depressive cycle so deep that it fell to me to raise my nine-year-old brother, and you have the audacity to stand there and suggest she is deserving of my respect?! That’s really rich.”

“Don’t talk to your father that way,” Mary reacted sternly.

“I will talk to him any damn well I please,” Ellie countered, “He was no better than you. Shut himself in his study day and night after you left as if him losing his wife meant he no longer had children who depended on him. Then he up and left, himself! Granted, he at least waited until I was eighteen and could legally be seen as Chuck’s guardian so that we weren’t separated by social services. From where I’m standing neither of you have earned, nor do you deserve my respect. You’re lucky I even told you where I live and am giving you the opportunity to explain yourselves.”

“What is going on out here?” The deep rumble of John’s voice announced his presence in the courtyard as he closed his door behind him. It only took a moment for him to find her, casting an evaluating glance over the older pair in the courtyard, he made his way to her, “Are you okay?”

“No,” Ellie sighed, with a shrug, “But it’s just par for the course at this point. John, these are my parents, Stephen and Mary Bartowski. Mom, Dad, my neighbor, John Casey.”

Ellie may have missed the brief glimpses of recognition cross her parent’s faces at the mention of John’s name, but Casey did not. “Your parents?” He arched an eyebrow before lowering his voice so that only Ellie could hear, “I thought they weren’t in the picture any more, do you need me to help you get rid of them?”

“They’re not, and I appreciate the offer, John,” She gave him a soft, thankful, smile, “But they claim they want to have a few moments to explain themselves.”

“You brought them home to where you live? Are you sure that was the best idea?” He couldn’t let go of the protective impulse that still surged through him, which was calmed slightly when Ellie placed a hand on his forearm. 

“Better than having it out in the middle of the hospital or some random diner,” Ellie shrugged, “At least this is private, or will be once we go inside and stop airing our family’s dirty laundry to the whole complex.”

John nodded his understanding, “Well, you know where to find me if you need me.” He offered and waited for Ellie’s understanding nod before turning back to his unit, pausing briefly to acknowledge the older couple with a soft “Sir, Ma’am” and disappearing inside once more.

“We should probably go inside before more than just John comes out to figure out why there are people yelling at each other in the courtyard,” Ellie sighed and gestured toward her apartment. At Stephen and Mary’s understanding nods, she led them to her door, which she soon had unlocked and held open for them, instructing them to have a seat and offering them drinks like the good hostess she was.

Once she had returned with wine for herself and her mother and a beer for her father, she looked at them expectantly, “So, what was so important that you two felt it was acceptable to abandon your children?”

Ellie listened as her parents told her their story, some of which she’d heard as a child in a slightly edited context. How her father was a professor and researcher at MIT where he was developing a program with the intention of helping those with cognitive degenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and dementia, or those who had suffered massive head trauma. They told her about how his program had caught the attention of the powers that be in Washington, who then sent her mother to recruit him to work for the country’s intelligence services as a contractor with her as his handler. They told her how they had eventually fallen in love, eloped, and had her and eventually her brother. 

She learned that the project continued to develop, they were moved to a larger research facility in the LA area. Soon, scientists from not only the US intelligence services, but a former operative turned scientist from the British Ministry of Intelligence, a man she had known in her youth as ‘Uncle Hartley,’ had been added to the project. As it turned out, as time went on, the intelligence services began to push for the program to deviate from its original intention and instead be developed to implant information, specifically a personality matrix into the head of an operative to make their covers relatively unbreakable. 

Since they were dubious about experimenting on volunteers, not knowing how the upload would affect cognitive function or the natural workings of the human brain, the two main researchers, namely her father and uncle Hartley had taken it upon themselves to act as guinea pigs. They found the personality matrix would only last a short time, usually no longer than 24 hours before it began to fade. Their governmental benefactors began to put pressure on them to produce a working prototype around the time that Ellie was 13 or 14 years old. They had developed a prototype that they believed would last at least a week before beginning to degrade, and Hartley volunteered himself for the initial trial since it would need to be tested in real-world situations and, with his background as an intelligence officer, would have the skills needed to supplement the programming when it began to fade. 

The plan was for him to upload the personality matrix and try to infiltrate a Bratva gang in Russia. He was to send a signal to the team once the programming began to degrade, but a week, and then two, and three passed. After a month’s time, Mary was sent to retrieve Hartley, assuming he had not been killed. When she arrived, she found that the program still had a strong hold on her friend, she tried to deactivate the programming, but it failed. She was then told she had to stay with Hartley as his handler until a new deactivation program could be developed or the program turned off on its own. 

What no one expected was for the programming to infiltrate and poison its hosts brain, turning kind, soft spoken Hartley into the cold, manipulative, sociopath, Alexei Volkoff. Since Marry was under orders to stay with Hartley, she was never able to return home. However, she still stayed in contact with Stephen who was still working on the programming in hopes a solution could be found. Until then, the program had been redesigned to operate as a data collection and storage database. 

Alexei, who all the while had risen in the ranks of the Bratva and had several lieutenants beneath him. With the permission of the Pakhan, he had branched off, taking his lieutenants with him and established a business that eventually overshadowed the Bratva. He had also fallen irrevocably in love with Mary and, after finding out she had still been in contact with her husband, put a hit out on Stephen so as to remove what he saw as a barrier between he and Mary being together. Luckily, Alexei did not know about Mary and Stephen’s children, and so they were safe, so long as Stephen was not near them. Mary alerted Stephen who then went underground, never to be seen again until he and Mary reunited to turn up at Westside Medical that evening.

Ellie listened to the story her parents were spinning, her reactions ranging from shock and surprise to outright disbelief, “Okay, so let’s just pretend that all of what you have told me is the truth. Why now? Why come back after so long?”

Stephen decided to field the question, “Well you see, even though I wasn’t physically here, I have been watching over you, protecting you, not that your brother made that easy for me, but that’s neither here nor there. I put a flag on your names in every emergency service and aid rendering group in North America. When I found out your brother had been seriously injured and was in a coma, I contacted your mother who found a way to come home, however  temporarily , and make sure you two were okay, or as okay as you can be in such a situation.”

“But why now, and not when Chuck’s appendix ruptured and he had to have emergency surgery his freshman year of college?” Ellie challenged.

“Well, while having one’s appendix out is an emergency, it’s still a routine and relatively safe surgery.” Stephen explained, “He also did not hit his head, suffer potential brain damage, and slip into a coma back then.” He hesitated as if questioning if he should continue before speaking again, “I also have reason to believe your brother may have accidentally downloaded some of the base programming I’d been working on not too long after your mother had to go. I think that programming may have something to do with why he is not waking up. However, Hartley was the neurologist on the project before, and he is clearly unavailable for obvious reasons, I will need your help, Eleanor to, for lack of a better term, fix your brother.” 


	10. Chapter 10

Ellie stared dumbly at her parents, parsing through possible responses to them. She wasn’t sure whether to laugh at the ridiculousness of their claims or cry over the betrayal they were trying to excuse away as if their abandonment was nothing. Her mother’s face was an unreadable mask, oddly similar to how Sarah looked when she didn’t wish to discuss something. Her father, on the other hand, could barely hide the nervous anticipation over her answer and the barely restrained hope that she would go along with his plan.

Ellie ran her hands over her face before resting them, palm-to-palm against her lips as if in prayer as she gathered her thoughts before dropping her hands slightly to speak. “Okay, so in the off chance I’ve slipped into the Twilight zone and all of this is real,” She took a deep breath, “Are you telling me that you ‘accidentally’ reprogrammed my little brother’s brain?”

“I suppose that’s one way to put it,” Stephen shrugged, “It was just the base frame work, no real information transfer, so I guess the more accurate term would be reformatted?”

“You’re not helping your case, Dear,” Mary quietly advised her husband before turning back to her daughter, “I can assure you, that you have not entered the Twilight Zone, but everything we told you is still very real.”

“Are you two insane?!” Ellie burst, bolting to her feet and beginning to pace the floor in front of the coffee table that sat between herself and her parents, “No, don’t answer that. I know you think that this is all real...”

“Would it help if I showed you my research?” Stephen asked, “Perhaps if you were able to read our project journals, specifically Hartley’s and mine, you might begin to understand in a tangible way what I’ve attempted, badly, to explain to you.”

“I don’t suppose you have these journals on you?” Ellie gave her father a skeptical look.

“Um, no,” Stephen shook his head, “They’re in my private lab... in the basement of the old house.”

“The old house didn’t have a basement,” Ellie countered, “It would have come up in the inspection that was done before I sold it.”

“It’s impossible to find unless you know exactly where to locate the entrance,” Stephen shrugged, “There’s a biometric scanner hidden in the side of the hearth, it’s the only way to get in. I can show it to you, if you’d care to meet us there.”

“Dad, did you miss the part where I said I  _ sold the house _ ?” Ellie stressed the last three words, “Even if I believed you, we can’t just knock on the door and say ‘Hi, we used to live here, do you mind if we access my father’s secret underground bunker in the basement your house isn’t supposed to have?’”

“We still own the house,” Stephen advised his daughter. “Like I said before, I’ve been keeping an eye on you and your brother. When I found out you’d put the house up for sale, I purchased it through a shell corporation so that you and your brother could get the funds you needed to move on with your lives while I still would have access to the house, and more specifically my lab.”

Ellie stared at her father dumbfounded before throwing her head back and letting out a frustrated groan, “Is it too much to ask to just have a normal family?!” She asked no one in particular before  returning her gaze to her father. “I don’t know what to even say to you right now,” She shook her head, “So, for the sake of my sanity, I am going to table all that for a bit.”

Glancing at the clock, she noted the time and turned to her mother, “It’s your turn, Mom.” Ellie sat heavily in her chair again, “Devon, or Dimitri, or whatever the hell his real name is, should be getting off shift in a half hour or so and I want you two out of here by the time he arrives so that he and I can have a much-needed discussion. What I need from you is an explanation.”

“I’ve already given you an explanation,” Mary stated, “I sent Dimitri to watch out for you. He was meant to be an undercover protection detail in case Volkov ever remembered that you and Charles existed. Naturally, he had to find a way to insert himself into your life. I’d specifically told him to befriend you, at no point did I intend for him to seduce you.”

“And I’m just supposed to believe you?” Ellie gave her mother an incredulous look.

“Yes,” Mary frowned, “Do you really think I’d pimp you out in such a fashion?”

“Do you want an honest answer to that question?” Ellie responded flatly.

“Eleanor, think whatever you like about me,” Mary huffed, “But believe me when I tell you this; I would do a lot of things to protect the people I love, but that is one level I will never stoop to. find the very idea abhorrent, and everyone who knows me knows this. It’s likely that is the reason that, despite all his other black market dealings, Volkov has never gotten involved in human trafficking.”

“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” Ellie shook her head.

The trio sat in silence for a few moments before the elder Bartowskis shared another silent conversation and Stephen spoke. “We’ve thrown a lot at you tonight, it’s no surprise you’re overwhelmed.” He gave her a look that most would take as being fatherly, but in Ellie’s state of mind looked like barely veiled condescension, “We will take our leave, but we’ll be around if you need us.” He then reached into the chest pocket of the plaid shirt he was wearing and withdrew a small two inch by three-and-a-half-inch card, setting it on the coffee table in clear view of his daughter, “These are our secure numbers, for when you have had time to process and are reading to speak with us again.”

Ellie nodded her understanding and rose to escort her parents to the door, but before opening it for them. She turned to face them once more, “Just one more question, if it was too dangerous for the two of you to stick around, why is it safe to show up now?”

“The primary danger is Volkov,” Mary informed her, “And I’m not going to lie, he is still a threat, but for now we are safe because he believes I have been seduced to his side of things. I’m allowed a certain amount of autonomy now. He is under the impression that I’m in the states to make contact with some business associates we have over here, and so long as I follow up with updates from time to time, he more or less lets me be.”

“But he knows you’re married,” Ellie pointed out, “Doesn’t he suspect the first place you’d go is to find Dad?”

“No necessarily,” Mary shook her head, “He’s under the impression your father is dead.”

“I’ve had to ‘die’ a few different times in order to elude those who wish to do me harm or capture me,” Stephen shrugged with practiced nonchalance. 

Ellie stared at the two of them blankly for a moment before shaking her head, “I don’t even want to know anymore.”

“I guess we’ll be on our way then,” Stephen gave her a small smile, “It was good seeing you again, Eleanor, I do hope you’ll consider my offer.”

“Dad,” Ellie sighed in exasperation and closed her eyes with a shake of her head.

When Ellie’s eyes opened to meet his again, Stephen nodded and took his leave. Mary paused as if she was going to say something before changing her mind and following her husband.

As soon as the door closed behind her parents, Ellie took a moment to herself, breathing deep a few times to recenter herself and calm her nerves for the conversation she would be having with the man she had once known as her fiancé. In an effort to distract herself from everything that had happened and the difficult moments and days ahead, she reverted to her normal default of cleaning. She collected the wine glasses and half-drunk bottle of beer and went into the kitchen. After emptying the beer into the sink and disposing of the bottle in the recycling bin, she set to work cleaning the wine glasses by hand and setting them in the drying rack as she retrieved a towel to dry them with. 

Once the glasses were dry and free of spots, she returned to the living room, straightening the pillows and blanket on the couch and making sure the nick- knacks on the coffee table were all in their proper place. She gave a passing thought to pulling out the vacuum to take care of the throw rug, but thought better of it, not wanting to miss the knock heralding the moment she had been anticipating and dreading for the last month.

Just as she was running out of nearly silent chores, she heard the firm knock she knew belonged to ‘him.’ She made her way to the door and pulled it open to reveal the handsome man with whom she had lived for the better part of the previous six or seven years. Although now, he seemed no more familiar to her than a stranger would.

“Come in,” She invited, stepping back and allowing him space to pass.

He nodded silently and made his way to the couch, pausing a moment in consideration before taking the chair, allowing her the corner of the couch she tended to favor. Ellie gave him a small smile of appreciation for his silent gesture and took her seat.

They sat in awkward silence, staring at each other for a few moments, neither knowing how to start the long-overdue conversation. He began to open his mouth as Ellie took a deep breath and broke the silence.

“What do I even call you?” She asked quietly.

“Whichever makes you more comfortable,” He shrugged, “Dimitri may be the name I was born with, I’ve been Devon since I was 26. It’s what you’ve called me for the past 10 years or so. It’s the name on my medical license.”

Ellie nodded, “I don’t even know where to start.”

“I know you’ve got to have a lot of questions,” Devon gave her and awkward half smile, “I guess, just ask what you need to ask and I’ll do my best to answer what I can.”

“Why did you do it?” Ellie asked.

“For one it gave me the opportunity to go to medical school in the United States,” Devon shrugged, “It also helped that I had a better grasp than the other guy your mom considered on the English language. I was more than a little obsessed with bootleg American surfer movies.”

“Which explains the accent, I’m guessing?” Ellie smirked.

“Guilty,” Devon nodded.

“I have to say, you learned the accent well,” Ellie admitted. “Are Woody and Honey really your parents?”

“No,” Devon shook his head, “They’re actually former KGB operatives, the emigrated here in the 80’s or 90’s. I was never clear on if they were contacts of Frost’s or associates of Volkov, all I know is that I was told that if I needed people to pose as my parents for a day or two to use them.”

“If they aren’t your real parents, then why were they putting so much pressure on us to have some big, fancy wedding, and why did you go along with it?” She asked. 

Devon didn’t answer, only dropped his head with a slightly embarrassed look on his face. His expression akin to a child being caught doing something he knew he shouldn’t be doing.

Suddenly it dawned on her, “You were hoping that by pushing for a big wedding, I’d call the whole thing off, weren’t you?”

Devon looked uncomfortable and gave a half shrug.

Ellie watched him squirm before asking, “Was any of it real?”

Devon took a deep breath and let it out slowly before answering, “I know the reason and how we met was contrived, but I did grow to care for you.”

Ellie noted his words, and nodded, “Did you ever really love me or was everything between us just convenient?”

“Elle...” Devon started; sorrow clear in his voice.

“Don’t,” She whispered, barely holding it together, “Just don’t.”

“I’m sorry,” He said softly, “I never wanted to hurt you.”

“A little late for that, isn’t it?” She gave him a sharp look.

“I suppose it is,” Devon admitted.

"How are we going to work this?” Ellie asked.

“You can keep the furniture, bathroom, and kitchen stuff, I just want the blender for my shakes,” Devon gave her a small shrug. 

“Okay,” Ellie nodded, “What about the rest of your things?”

“Gavin and I came over a couple days ago when you were at the hospital with Chuck,” Devon admitted, “Packed up most of my things, really all that’s left is my stationary bike because we ran out of room in his truck. I can come by tomorrow to get it.”

“Okay,” Ellie sighed, “I guess this is it, then.”

“Yeah,” Devon nodded, “I am so sorry, Ellie, I really did grow to care for you.”

“I cared for you too, but I think we both know that cover or not, this wound up just being convenient for the both of us,” Ellie gave him a small smile as they stood and headed towards the door. They exchanged a hug and wished each other well before Devon opened the door to go.

“Dimitri?” Ellie caught his attention just as he was about to close the door behind him. Pulling the ring off her finger she handed it to him, “I don’t know if the story about your great grandma was true or not, but by all rights, this belongs to you.”

“Thanks,” He took the ring from her hand and slipped it into his pocket. He started to leave again but paused and turned back once more, “You know, when you find the right one for you, he’s going to be a very lucky man.”

“Thank you,” Ellie smiled, “I hope you find someone awesome someday, too.”

Dimitri nodded in acknowledgement and with one last smile and a wave, he took his leave.


	11. Chapter 11

Casey had watched as Ellie led her parents into the apartment she shared with her brother and fiancé before retreating into his own place to watch one of his favorite World War Two documentaries. He’d just pulled his hot pocket from the microwave, poured a few fingers of Johnnie Walker Black Label, neat, and settled into his comfortable recliner when he heard the audio feed from the kid’s apartment. He’d forgotten to turn it off after reviewing the tapes earlier.

With a grunt, he rose to turn the sound off, but before the feed could be cut, he heard Ellie’s accusation that her father reprogrammed her brother’s brain when the geek was just a kid. He rewound the tape and listened to their preceding conversation between the father and daughter.

“Son of a bitch,” Casey huffed, “The geek’s gorram father is Orion. Walker’s gonna shit a brick when she hears this.”

Knowing it was better to just get it over with, he went back into the kitchen where he had his cellphone charging and dialed his partner’s number, “Walker, it’s Casey.” He grunted into the phone, “You aren’t going to believe what my bugs just picked up in Bartowski’s apartment.” He gave her a brief overview and played the tape back for her to listen to. He gave his partner a few moments to process before speaking again, “I know she’s had a lot come down on her since the kid was shot, but I think we need to read her in. If Orion thinks she has the best chance of getting the geek back on line, she may very well be our best option to fix his head.”

“ _I’ll bring the flak jackets and back you up, if you think that’s the right play,”_ Sarah sighed over the phone, “ _We probably should have gotten permission to read her in after Zarnow was revealed to be a traitor and especially after Perceus was killed. Are you sure Beckman will go for it?”_

 _“_ Let me worry about Beckman,” Casey advised her, “You can go back to daydreaming about the geek.”

 _“I’m not daydreaming about Chuck,”_ Sarah groaned.

“Sure you’re not,” He grunted, “It ain’t none of my business whose chocolate is getting mixed up in your peanut butter, so long as you keep it in your pants around me and it don’t affect the job.”

“Don’t you have a bonsai to trim or a picture of Reagan to polish?” Sarah shot back.

Casey enjoyed pushing Sarah’s buttons. He’d realized early on that she was a lot like his younger sister, Nicolette. Nikki was headstrong and funny in her own way, but she tended to let things bottle up and get stuck in her own head when stressed out just like Walker did. Easiest way he’d found to get either of them out of their headspace was with a little friendly ribbing. They both gave as good as they got so it was fun to needle them now and again, just to see how they’d react. Not that he’d ever admit to Walker, or his sister, he wasn’t stupid.

“It’s late in DC, and it’ll keep ‘til morning,” He stated, ignoring his partner’s jab, “I’ll brief Beckman in the morning and get back to you.”

“Fine,” Sarah agreed, “I’ll talk to you in the morning. Good night Casey.”

“’Night Walker,” Casey grunted than hung up. His hot pocket had long gone cold, but he didn’t care. Relaxing in his chair again, he took a long draw of his whisky and hit play on the remote and let the soothing sound of cannon fire and dog fights wash over him.

* * *

The courtyard was dim, almost as if the twinkle lights overhead had a sense of all that had occurred within their walls of the complex and had adjusted to fit the mood purveying the courtyard. He knew this would be the last time he would be able to linger here basking in the glow of the lights overhead and the sound of water trickling over the tiered fountain. He’d told Ellie the truth, while their meeting had not been by chance, he really had come to care for her. It hadn’t been love, but it had probably been the closest thing to it that he’d experienced since before his mother, his real mother, had fallen ill and passed away when he was a teenager.

“Dimitri,” The woman stepped out from the shadow of the archway, breaking his reverie and making him jump.

“Frost,” He turned to face her, “You startled me.”

“You deserve worse than to be startled,” She admonished him in his native tongue, “You disobeyed your orders. My orders were for you to befriend her, nothing more. The last thing I wanted was for you to break her heart.”

“I doubt I broke her heart,” He shook his head, “Sure, she’s understandably hurt, but I that’s more because I came into her life under false pretenses and on orders from the mother who abandoned her with no warning.”

“Watch your done, Dimitri,” Frost scolded him sharply.

He nodded his understanding before continuing, “My point is she is hurt because I have lied to her since the day that I met her. She doesn’t trust easily and I betrayed that trust. She never really loved me. Did you know she accused me of proposing because of some hypothetical life plan? Interesting thing is, she’s the one who has preconceived notions of what her life is supposed to look like and at what point she should be hitting certain milestones. She wants the husband and the house, the kids and the dog, I think she is trying to reclaim what she lost the days your husband and you chose your carriers over your children.”

“I did not come here to have you analyze my daughter,” Frost huffed.

“Doesn’t mean it’s not true,” He pointed out, “I’m guessing you have a reason for lurking in the shadows? I don’t suppose I’ll be allowed to stay here.” He was not relishing returning to Moscow after living in Southern California for as long as he had.

“No, but I can’t have you coming back to Moscow,” Frost explained then gave him a wry look, “At least not Moscow, and frankly returning to Russia in general is not the best idea, either. The less chance you have to come into contact with Alexei, the better. Orion has already set you up with a new identity with the same training and credentials you currently have, just as was done when you were sent here. There are several hospitals both in the US and abroad who are looking for a good cardiothoracic surgeon and are waiting for you to call and set up an interview with them. You can find your new documents in the usual drop location. Beyond that, your life is your own, this will be the last time you will have any contact with anyone connected to Volkov or the Bartowskis.”

“I’m not sure if I should thank you for any of it,” He deadpanned, “But you got me out of Russia, which I suppose I should be grateful for.”

Frost did not acknowledge his statement other than to turn and walk out of the courtyard. He sighed and shook his head for expecting anything more from her. He’d head back to Gavin’s for the night, they would get his stationary bike the next day, and after that, he’d see where he’d go from there.

His time in LA had been some of the best in his life, but it was time to move on, and live for himself for the first time. While he wished things had ended better for himself and Ellie, he was glad it hadn’t been worse. He knew he deserved a lot worse for what he’d done, it was just disheartening to see Ellie so beaten down by all that had been piled on her the last couple months especially. As he made his way out of the courtyard and to his car, he sincerely hoped that Ellie would find a way to get through this, and maybe, someday find the man who would be her perfect compliment.


	12. Chapter 12

It had been a long night for Ellie between dealing with her parents and ending things with her now ex-fiancé. She’d had a hard time sleeping, had tossed and turned all night after coming to the realization that she was alone for the first time in nearly a decade. While she knew it wasn’t the end of the world, it was still an odd feeling not being tethered to someone. 

Since the day her parents left, she’d always had at least one person relying on her. First it was Chuck, and to a lesser extent, Mor gan. Toward the end of Chuck’s senior year of high school, she started dating Paul. A year later after graduating with their respective bachelor’s degrees, Paul went on to Law school back East while she stayed in California for Medical school. Due to the distance and the intensity of their respective graduate programs, they decided to end of their relationship. Of course, Chuck came home that summer from college, and then in the fall, she’d met Devon, or Dimitri... she still wasn’t sure what to call him. Now, even he was gone and with Chuck in a coma, she was truly on her own for the first time in her life and not really accountable to anyone.

It was a rather bittersweet feeling, even more so because it meant that, with Christmas less than two weeks away, she wouldn’t be celebrating with anyone this year. Even if Chuck woke up that afternoon, he wouldn’t be rehabbed and released in time to be home for the holiday. Not that it mattered since, due to the time she’d taken off after Chuck was first admitted, she was scheduled to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas day in the ER. It wasn’t the first time she’d had to work the holiday, but it was the first time she didn’t have to feel guilty for it.

Ellie yawned and stretched before letting out a groan and levering herself out of bed to get ready for work. Since she was only scheduled to do rounds that day, she picked out  a festive red blouse and black skirt to wear to work and, went to take a shower. Once she was showered, did her hair and applied her makeup, she pulled out a pair of kitten heels, one of the few non-sneaker shoes comfortable for a day at the hospital and slid into them. Checking her overnight bag to make sure she had a couple pairs of scrubs and her sneakers, just in case she was called into the ER or surgery, she looped her bag over her shoulder and headed toward the living room to grab her purse and head to work.

When she turned around after locking the front door, she noticed John Casey exiting his apartment about the same time , dressed in his usual khakis and green polo shirt . “Good morning, John,” She gave him a kind smile.

“’Morning Ellie,” John nodded, “How did everything go last night? I assume your parents also made it out alive?”

She chuckled lightly at his small joke, “Yeah, my folks are still around, somewhere, they went back to where they were staying. It’s still a little weird knowing they’re around right now when they’ve been gone so long.”

“I can only imagine,” John huffed, “I thought I saw Devon hanging around last night too.”

“You did,” Ellie nodded with a sigh, “We had a long overdue conversation and I found out some things I didn’t know before about both of us. We decided to go our separate ways, it was a long time coming, if I’m being honest. It was hard, I really cared for him, and even loved him at one point, but this is what was best for the both of us. I wish him luck.”

Casey’s raised brow was the only indication that he didn’t quite believe what she was saying, but he wasn’t going to push if she didn’t want to talk about it. “If you need someone to talk to, I’m sure Walker would love to let you bend her ear.”

“I probably will,” Ellie shrugged, “But for now, I need to get going to work. Oh , um if you see Devon around today, it’s fine, he’s just coming to pick up the last of his stuff .”

Casey grunted his acknowledgement, earning himself a frown from  the woman in front of him. He gave her a slightly sheepish look , but didn’t apologize, he knew she didn’t like it when he grunted rather than ‘ using his words.’ “I was actually  on my way out, too. Big Mike wanted me to help with the  delivery today. Apparently, they have a lot of large appliances coming in today.”

“And you’re the only one he trusts to move them, I get it,” She nodded with a small smile as they made their way to the parking area of the complex , “Just be careful, last thing anyone needs is for you to throw out your back  because you weren’t lifting things the right way.”

“I will,” He nodded and unlocked his  C rown  Vic , “I’ll see you later.”

“ Later then,” Ellie gave him a small smile and sl id into the driver’s seat of her new Highlander.

Casey waited for her to start up her engine and dive off safely before getting into his  V ic and heading to his cover job and Castle to speak with Beckman regarding the revelations of the previous day.

* * *

As had become her habit since she returned to work, she went up to Chuck’s room to spend an hour or so with him before her shift started.  She had run in to Sarah  a few times when the younger woman had dozed off while visiting her boyfriend, but the last person she expected to see was Morgan. Ever since his dad passed away when he was  five, hospitals freaked him ou t, but when Ellie entered the ICU, there he was near the nurses’ station, eyeing the door to Chuck’s room with apprehension, backpack slung over his shoulder.

“ Morgan?” She spoke softly, trying to not startle the younger man.

He still jumped a little before  giving her an awkward smile, “Oh, heh… hi Ellie.”

“Did you come  to visit Chuck?” She asked.

“Uh,  kinda ,” Morgan shuffled his green and yellow sneakers , “Sarah mentioned that Chuck was unconsciously challenging  T he  B eard to a growing contest, and you know I just can’t stand for that .”

Ellie gave him a soft smile, “ Yeah, I noticed he was getting scruffy. So, I’m guessing she called you to borrow your grooming kit?”

“ Yeah, that an… and  to teach her how to keep him looking sharp until he can do it himself again,” Morgan shrugged , “I’m all for helping out my hetero life partner and all but…”

“I get it,” Ellie nodded,  “But he’s not hooked up to nearly as much as your  Papi was. The medical field hasn’t gotten so far as having  bacta tanks yet,”  Morgan smiled at her small joke, “But the equipment isn’t as intimidating as it once was. He’s  not hooked up to a ventilator like  Papi ; he’s been breathing on his own since a couple days after his surgery  but he still has the nose  canula to make sure he’s getting as  much pure oxygen as  we can get for him . He’ll be fine if you remove it  while you’re teaching Sarah how to groom his beard .  We have one monitor that measures his vitals via a blood pressure cuff and a  pulse o ximeter – the thing clipped on the tip of his left forefinger- and another monitor observing his brain activity via wireless probes attached to his head. He does have an IV in his left arm  to keep him hydrated and get him the nutrients he needs since he can’t exactly eat right now. I know it sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t . You barely notice it’s there after a while, I’ve even caught Sarah snuggled up to him in his bed with him a couple times without the equipment getting in the way.”

Morgan nodded his understanding.

“Are you ready to go in?” Ellie  inquired, nodding toward Chuck’s door , but noticed  Morgan still looked unsure, “I know you aren’t exactly comfortable with hospitals , but I’ll be there with you. If it gets to be too much,  no one will give you crap for stepping away, we all know  this is hard for you. ”

“Okay,” Morgan said quietly and nodded , adjusting his backpack as he followed Ellie into the room.

When they entered, they found Sarah in the visitor’s chair sipping coffee and  popping pieces of fruit into her mouth from a Tupperware container. She turned to see them and gave them a small smile, “Still no change ,” She reported, as she did every  time she saw Ellie come in. “Dr. Clark came by a little bit ago,  said he wanted to make sure you ate before going on shift. There’s fruit and a bagel with cream cheese in the bag over there,” She nodded to an insulated lunch box on a  table by the window seat. “He said he’d come back for the bag later. He also mentioned that Arlene was going to light a candle for Chuck when she goes to her morning mass.”

“That’s very kind of her,” Ellie acknowledged.

“Yeah , I don’t think I’ve seen my mom without her rosary since she heard Chuck got shot,” Morgan sighed.

The three of them sat in silence for a moment before Sarah spoke up.

“So, Morgan, did you bring what I asked you to? ” She looked toward him.

“Yeah, but there’s no rush, finish your breakfast first.” He set the bag on the  window seat, “I don’t have to be at  BuyMore until 10.” He turned to take in his buddy and, with the exception of the IV you really couldn’t tell he was hooked up to  anything else.

Ellie noticed his confusion and smiled.  “The sensors are connected wirelessly to the monitors. Each machine  has its own, specific set of sensors that  work on a closed channel frequency so we don’t have to worry about cross feed .”

“Like wireless mic packs?” He asked.

“ Something like that,” Ellie shrugged.

“Cool, cool,” He nodded, slowly venturing closer to his friend who looked as if he was just sleeping. Sarah was right, his friend’s coma beard was getting out of control. He began to formulate a plan.


	13. Chapter 13

Morgan waited patiently while Sarah and Ellie finished their breakfasts and Ellie left for her shift before enacting his plans. “So, Sarah, you ready to do this?” He asked, rummaging in his bag, and pulling out his various grooming tools. Lining up the trimmer, guards from largest to smallest, scissors, a new disposable razor, shaving cream, and a comb along with a few bottle and tubes of various products on the rolling bedside table as if he were performing surgical prep.

“Yeah, let me just go wash my hands really quick,” She gave him a soft smile, “I got a little bit of cantaloupe juice on my fingers.”

Morgan nodded and continued his set up, moving the rolling table over so that the table portion hovered just over where Chuck’s blanket-covered legs rested. He met Ellie’s eyes and gestured toward the cannula that rested between Chuck’s upper lip and nose to check that it was still okay to remove it. When she gave him the affirmative nod, he lowered the clear tube until it rested on Chuck’s chest.

“Thank you for doing this,” Sarah returned, carrying a couple clean towels from the restroom.

“No problem, if there’s one thing the Beard One knows, it’s how to trip and shape facial hair,” Morgan gave her a proud smile, “Oh good, you have towels, that will help from any hair falling down his collar.”

It only took a moment for Morgan to instruct Sarah how to wrap the towel around Chuck’s shoulders to be able to catch the beard trimmings that would fall during the process of trimming his beard. Once he was satisfied that Chuck was properly wrapped up, he began to instruct Sarah on the proper way to maintain a beard.

“I’m going to do most of the hard work getting this mess under control,” He advised as Sarah watched every step of the process carefully. “All you need to do is spot checks and shaving around the beard to keep it looking neat.” Sarah nodded.

“So, I take it you have a plan for his beard?” Sarah inquired.

“Yes, while you and Ellie were enjoying your breakfast, I was formulating the best way to shape and manicure my main man’s beard,” Morgan confirmed, “I think I came up with one of the easiest for you to maintain. What do you think about mutton chops or a porn ‘stache?”

The mischievous grin he gave her made her laugh and let her relax a little bit.

“Well considering it’s not 1895, nor is he a 1970’s cop, I’d say he probably wouldn’t appreciate you making that particular choice for his facial hair,” Sarah snickered.

“Fair point, fair point,” Morgan nodded, “Here’s what we’re really going to do here,” He picked up the clippers, snapping on one of the guards, and a comb. “I’m going to give him a bit of a tight trim, that will last him a while before he’ll need more than a touch up here and there. Although, I hope that he wakes up before we have to do all of this over again.”

“Me too,” Sarah nodded as she watched Morgan comb out his friend’s beard before using the comb as a guide for the clippers as he trimmed off sections of Chuck’s beard.

Once Morgan had gotten the bulk of the beard cleared away, he switched out to a smaller guard and went back over Chuck’s jaw and neck, repeating the process with successively smaller guards until he was satisfied with the length.

“Now this is the tricky part,” Morgan advised, removing the guard, and carefully using the bare clippers to create a defined trim along his friend’s neck, careful to not accidentally nick Chuck with the blades.

Setting aside the clippers, Morgan picked up the scissors and trimmed off the stray hairs that weren’t caught by the clippers as well as trimmed his friend’s mustache, making sure that Sarah was paying attention as this was one of the parts of maintenance she would need to take care of until Chuck woke up to take care of it himself. “Alright,” He sighed, setting the scissors down, “One last thing to do is to shave along the edge of his beard, have you ever shaved a guy’s face before?” He looked up at her.

“Um, no,” She shook her head.

“Then you’re going to learn,” Morgan stated firmly and beckoned her closer. Handing her the razor, he picked up the small can of shaving cream, gave it a shake, and squirted out a small dollop of foam into his palm. He made quick work of distributing the foam on Chuck’s cheeks and neck along the edges of his beard, before patently instructing Sarah in the best way to shave a man’s face. A few minutes later, he was satisfied with the work he and Sarah had done and gave his friend’s girlfriend a smile.

“Good work,” Morgan complimented Sarah, who had ducked into the bathroom to retrieve a wet washcloth to clean away the excess foam from Chuck’s face. “The last thing we need to do is rub in a bit of beard oil balm, just to keep the hair soft and protect his skin. From now on, you’d make sure to wash his face and beard first then add the balm.” He spoke as he scooped out a small portion of the balm into his hands and began to massage it into the hair along his friend’s jaw and neck. “I’ll leave the balm and the wash here. The scissors and comb are for him too, I took the liberty of grabbing Chuck’s dopp kit from his apartment, so I’ll put all of this into there for you so it’s all in one place.

“Thank you, Morgan,” Sarah gave the man a hug, “You’re a good friend. Ellie had told me about your dad’s accident, so I know coming here was hard on you.”

“Yeah, well, I had to get over it sometime,” Morgan shrugged, walking over to the bathroom to wash the excess balm from his hands, “Ellie was right, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I was imagining it to be. I guess that’s the difference between seeing your dad die from injuries sustained from an accident when you were seven, and being 28, seeing your best friend in a coma.”

“Still, it took a lot of guts to come here after what happened,” Sarah gave him a soft smile.

“Thanks,” Morgan smiled sheepishly as he returned to his friend’s bedside and gently lifted Chuck’s cannula back into position just below the man’s nose. As he packed up his things in his bag, he noticed his watch, and his eyes widened, “This took longer than I thought it would, I have to head out. I have a shift at the BuyMore.”

“Alright,” Sarah nodded, taking her seat again next to Chuck’s bed, “Pedal safe.”

“I will,” Morgan nodded and squeezed Sarah’s shoulder, “Take care of our guy.”

“I will,” Sarah patted his hand before turning back to Chuck as Morgan made his way out of the room and down to the bike lock up.

* * *

Sarah had sat with Chuck another few hours after Morgan left before heading back to her studio apartment at Maison 23 to take a shower and get some sleep. Just before she had gotten into the room, she’d received a call from Casey following up on his report from last night. As it had turned out, Beckman had already been one step ahead of them and, even if Chuck hadn’t been shot, was going to suggest reading Ellie in so that she could at the very least help with the Intersect from a neurological standpoint.

Ellie was due to be home by 5pm and Casey reported that he’d already reached out to her to see if they could come over to talk with her. Ellie, of course, agreed and offered to make them dinner, so the plan was for Sarah and Casey to meet up at Casey’s around five to figure out the best way to approach everything with Ellie before heading over to the Bartowski apartment around six for dinner and the far overdue talk.

As Sarah laid down in her bed to get some sleep, she hoped that Ellie wouldn’t freak out when she found out everything that had been going on with her brother, and that what her father had told her was actually true. Her last thought before drifting off was to make sure that they hid the kitchen knives before telling Ellie anything, because she had a feeling that they were going to be poking a very angry mama bear that evening.


	14. Chapter 14

It was a quarter after five when Sarah pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex where Ellie, Chuck, and Casey all lived. She did a quick pass through the lot to see if Ellie’s car was there and breathed a sigh when she saw it parked in its assigned carport before pulling into a visitor’s parking spot far enough down and behind a large SUV so that her Porsche would not be easily noticed if Ellie had to make a quick run to the store for an ingredient as she made dinner. Stepping out of the car, she ran her hand down her blouse to smooth out any wrinkles that may have developed during the ride from her hotel to Ellie’s apartment. She felt her cell phone buzz in her purse and pulled it out, finding a text message from Casey.

_All clear to enter courtyard, Mama Bear is elbow deep in food prep._

Rolling her eyes at the code name Casey had assigned the elder Bartowski sibling when the assignment first started, Sarah slipped her phone back into her purse. As she walked, a brief thought of noting the irony that a man who was affectionately known by some as “Sugar Bear” had given Ellie the codename he gave her, was presented, and quickly dismissed in a matter of no more than a second. Once she was through the archway that led to the courtyard, she cast a quick glance to Ellie’s door before quickly making her way to Casey’s.

She didn’t even have to knock, as Casey had been watching for her and had opened the door when she was only a couple feet away. Once Sarah was safely inside, he shut the door and offered her a drink, which she politely declined. They gave a brief update to Beckman and Graham on Chuck’s status before discussing between the two of them the best way to explain things to Ellie. In the end, they decided that being straight forward with Ellie was the best way to go.

They both knew what was at stake that night. Not only the possibility of her being able to assist in finding a way to pull Chuck out of his coma, but for each of them as well. They knew Ellie’s trust in them would be shaken, potentially irrevocably, but for Sarah, it meant the very real possibility of losing her only real friend outside of her life as a spy. For Casey, he knew that, while it was still much too soon, the conversation they were going to have could potentially ruin any possibility of having Ellie in his life, in whatever capacity she might allow.

Soon it was time to head over to Ellie’s. Sarah left first a bottle of merlot in hand, which was gladly accepted by Ellie who thanked her and offered her a glass while they waited for Casey to arrive to join them for dinner. Casey arrived roughly five minutes later, carrying a tray of mini pecan pies.

* * *

It had been a relatively easy day for Ellie, full of follow ups and consultations with some time in between to reread some journal articles on cognitive function and rehabilitation as well as some papers about subliminal encoding she had remembered reading a few years before. She wasn’t sure if she should take her father at his word or if he might be stuck in some fantastical sci-fi delusion. Regardless, if it had any hope of helping her brother, she was willing to consider it.

She was both looking forward and somewhat dreading the dinner with Sarah and John, who while being Chuck’s girlfriend and friend/co-worker respectively, she considered both of them good friends. The fact they both wanted to speak to her so soon after everything that had happened and was still happening, concerned her. However, whatever the problem was, she’d much rather have it all out in the open. Unlike most of Chuck’s friends, they both tended to be more reserved compared to, say, Morgan, who she desperately hoped would not try to make an appearance that night. She’d locked her brother’s bedroom window anyhow, just in case.

She’d just pulled the roast out of the oven and was plating it and the vegetables on serving dishes before taking them out to the dining room to await her guests. Thankfully, she didn’t have to wait long as Sarah knocked on the door just as Ellie was straightening the place settings. The bottle of Merlot that Sarah had brought would pair perfectly with the dinner she’d made, she thanked Sarah with a hug and accepted the bottle offering to pour them both a glass while they waited on John. Punctual as always, John arrived five minutes before the dinner invitation stated for him to arrive, a platter of mini pecan pies in his large hands. She gave a passing thought to if he knew that they were her favorite dessert or not as she welcomed him in and offered him a drink.

Since she had taken the mini pies into the kitchen, John had done her the favor of opening the wine and pouring them each a generous glass, handing glasses first to Sarah then Ellie before claiming one for himself. Ellie invited them to sit, and soon platters were being passed around as they each served themselves.

Dinner itself was pleasant, much as it usually was, passing with casual, occasionally humorous, conversations, although they all strongly felt the loss of Chuck at the table as they ate. The food was delicious, the roast had been tender, and the vegetables were soft but not to the point of disintegrating into mush when chewed, not that there was ever any doubt that a meal cooked by Ellie Bartowski would be great, even if she was dealing with a great deal of baggage in her personal life.

Once dinner was done, and the leftovers put away Ellie brewed some coffee and brought out three cups of coffee along with the mini pies. Ellie’s eyes widened as she bit into her mini pie, along with the expected sweet and nutty taste, there was a darker flavor mixed in.

Casey noticed her surprise and gave her a small smile, “Used my ma’s recipe, calls for a splash of bourbon to be added to the filling.” He explained, “Do you not like it?”

“No, I do, it just surprised me is all,” Ellie stammered out an explanation, “It’s a bit different, but I like it.”

“I’m glad you do,” Casey nodded, “I’m sure my ma would be glad as well.”

Sarah watched the interaction with curiosity. Sure, she had noticed how Casey had always acted around Ellie. She’d always thought it was just being polite to the hostess, but she could have sworn she saw a slight blush when Ellie had said she’d liked his mini pies. Could it be that Casey was attracted to Ellie? It wasn’t that foreign of a concept, she supposed.

Ellie was a beautiful woman, and Casey, was a relatively handsome and charming man, once you got past the grunting and the constant scowling… which, come to think, Sarah had never witnessed from her partner very often when he was around Ellie. Sure, he’d grunted in response to Ellie a time or two, but after getting the evil eye, he had learned to at least attempt to curb that particular mode of communication. He rarely ever scowled in Ellie’s presence, save the occasional response to Morgan’s, and occasionally Chuck’s, antics. Besides, despite the wear and tear on his body from his time in the service making him appear older, he was barely into his 40’s, making him only five or six years older than Ellie.

Sarah also knew that beneath all his gruffness and growling, Casey had been raised to be a gentleman, behavior that had been reinforced during his time in the corps. Which meant that, even if there was some attraction or feelings on his end, not that he would admit to them, he would wait for her to make the first move so as to give her time to heal from her last relationship, and the affect the talk they were deliberately delaying would have on her. In the end, all Sarah wanted was for her friends, and she did consider her NSA counterpart as a friend, to be happy, however and wherever they may find that happiness.

Once they had finished dessert, Casey had volunteered to collect and wash the dessert dishes. Sarah was tempted to call him a coward for using cleaning up after dinner as an excuse to put off talking with Ellie, but her charge died on her lips the moment she saw him returning to the dining room, a bottle of Jonnie Walker Blue Label in one hand, three tumblers pinched between his thumb, fore, and middle fingers. He set the glasses on the table and poured them each a couple fingers of whiskey before finishing off his own with one large gulp and refilling it again.

Ellie suggested they move to the living room and the spies quickly agreed. They made their way into the living room, Casey with the bottle of Johnnie Walker in his hand. Once they were all seated, and the bottle of whiskey was deposited on the coffee table, Ellie looked between Sarah and Casey with an expectant look.

“So, now that you’ve made sure I’m sufficiently liquored up, do either of you want to tell me why?” She arched an eyebrow and took a sip of her whiskey, letting it burn down her throat as she watched Sarah and Casey have a silent conversation before Sarah finally spoke up.

“Ellie, before we get too far into it, please know that everything we did was to protect you and we never meant any of this to hurt you in any way,” Sarah gave her a pleading look as she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a wallet folio, her movement mirrored by Casey, and laid out her credentials on the coffee table facing Ellie, “We aren’t exactly who we led you to believe, and neither is your brother.”

Ellie calmly set her glass on the table and bent over to view the credentials laid out before her. When she sat up again, her face was blank as she stood and walked out of the room. Sarah and Casey weren’t sure what to make of her reaction. Assuming she needed a moment alone to process, they waited for Ellie’s return, which didn’t take very long at all, because before they knew it, she swept back in a box labeled ‘Converse All Stars’ in her hands. She threw the box down, Chuck’s alias passports scattering across the table along with a black credential wallet which fell open, a more formal picture of Chuck in a suit on the identification portion. Ellie picked up the wallet and noticed it had an extra partition in it, eyes widening as she realized that it held credentials for both the CIA and NSA.

“Where did you find this?” Sarah stared at the documents spread over the coffee table.

“My brother may be a genius, but he is terrible at finding good hiding places.” Ellie explained before getting down to what she really wanted to know. “How long?” She asked, when neither answered she looked up to meet their eyes and repeated herself more forcefully, “How long?”

“We’ve been a team for a little over two years, a few days after your brother’s 27th birthday.” Casey explained, “Your brother serves as our analyst.”

“Analyst?” Ellie repeated, “Is that why all of a sudden he got his diploma from Stanford?”

“No, not exactly,” Sarah hedged, “During one of our investigations, we found video recordings indicating that Chuck had been framed and was unfairly expelled. We submitted the evidence to Stanford, and since he was ahead in all his classes and was projected to pass all his classes with an A, they felt it was unnecessary for him to retake his last semester and instead just issued his diploma. Once that happened, we were able to officially bring him on as an analyst, before that he was our asset.”

“What the hell is an asset in your world?” Ellie demanded.

“It usually means someone, generally a criminal, with a particular skill set or ability who assists us in investigations.” Casey informed her.

“Oh God…” Ellie groaned and buried her head in her hands, “I told him to stop, I told him he’d get caught. That’s it, I’m going to go down to that hospital find some way to wake him up out of that coma and I’m gonna kill him, or at least punch him so hard he’ll be in a coma for decades to come!”

Sarah and Casey looked at each other puzzled.

“Um, Ellie, what are you talking about?” Sarah asked.

Ellie paled realizing she’d said too much, “What were you talking about?”

“What I was about to say, is that our knowledge, Chuck isn’t a criminal, although at first he was suspected to be complicit in the actions of a rouge agent,” Casey explained, “That theory was officially discarded a couple months later, although we had our suspicions within a few days of the team forming. Especially since he’d had no motive to help the rogue agent due to some rather dissatisfactory events that had occurred between the two of them years before.”

“What Casey is avoiding saying is that Bryce Larkin sent Chuck sensitive intel which he’d initially stolen from the Department of National Intelligence’s headquarters.” Sarah joined in, “Bryce had sent it in an email and Chuck assumed it was some kind of birthday greeting or apology and didn’t realize what he was opening until it was too late, and he’d already downloaded the information.”

“But Chuck’s computer was damaged beyond repair during a botched robbery a couple days later,” Ellie protested.

“I know, sorry, that was my fault,” Sarah shrugged, “Chuck caught me trying to take his tower, but it fell during the altercation. Not that it would have done us any good if I’d been able to successfully retrieve it. The email fried his hard drive.”

“If that were true, then he would be useless to you,” Ellie pointed out.

“That is actually where you would be wrong,” Casey corrected her, “The way the information had been transmitted was by way of encoded imagery. The project your father said he is working on? He was telling you the truth.”

Ellie looked at them disbelievingly, “You mean my crazy dad’s claims are real?”

“We know this is hard to accept, but it’s the truth,” Sarah assured her, “The test Bryce claimed that Chuck had cheated on was an encoded image retention test that was created to identify potential candidates to upload the technology. Your brother has the highest score ever recorded by at least 10 points. Somehow Bryce found out and intervened to protect him from being forcibly conscripted to the CIA. The irony is not lost on either of us that Bryce was also the one who sent him the technology which led to him being essentially conscripted to being a government asset then analyst.”

“Why are you telling me all of this now?” Ellie asked.

“Orion, your dad, has seemed to hit a brick wall when it comes to removing or overriding the data, which may be the only way to get Chuck to wake up,” Casey informed her. “It is our belief that you might be able to lend insight from your end to see if you can’t get him past this hurdle. The NSA has already arranged for some time off for you.”

“And you just expect me to abandon my job, my career, chasing my father’s delusions?” Ellie demanded.

Sarah took a deep breath, “Ellie, I understand that to most this may seem out there, and I get that you’re upset...”

“’Upset?!’” Ellie screamed, “You think that I’m just upset. Oh no, I am abso-fucking-lutely furious! Do you have any idea what you all have put me and Chuck through the past few months, no the last twenty fucking years? Both my parents abandon us, leaving me to raise Chuck practically on my own since I was 14 years old. Chuck got kicked out of college by one of your agents who he thought was his best friend, and what’s worse, that same agent sleeps with Chuck’s fiancée – or did you not know he was engaged his senior year of college?” Ellie didn’t see Sarah wince as if she had been slapped as she rose to her feet and began to pace as she continued to rant, “Do you have any idea what that did to my sweet brother’s self-esteem? He wound up working for the BuyMore, the fucking BuyMore for Chrissakes! I don’t think you even have any inkling of how wasted his talents are there, but because of that one two punch that our government was so kind to throw at him back at Stanford, that’s all he thinks he’s good for!”

Ellie groaned in frustration and looked over at Sarah, “And then you showed up, and I saw the Chuck I knew had been buried deep inside of him for five Goddamned years! He was confident, he had his old spark back, he even began to sing and play again! Bet you didn’t know that Gibson wasn’t just for show. I thought you coming into his life, into our life, was a damned miracle...” She sighed defeated, “But that was a lie too, I guess, you’re not really dating Chuck, are you? You don’t love him, he’s just a tool for you to manipulate however you see fit... I bet you don’t even care about him, do you? Do you even like him? Was it all just a lie?”

“No,” Sarah’s voice was quiet.

Ellie’s eyes narrowed to slits, “Get out. Both of you, get out of my apartment.”

“No, Ellie, wait, that’s not what I meant,” Sarah protested.

“I don’t give a fuck what you have to say!” Ellie shouted.

“You might be interested in what she has to say,” Casey advised.

“And why would I even want to listen to anything you have to say?” Ellie growled in a way that impressed Casey.

“Because I love him!” Sarah was in tears, “I didn’t mean for it to happen, it wasn’t supposed to happen. Spies don’t fall in love, but your brother... Chuck he... he changed, no, he saw me.” She met Ellie’s eyes, “He _saw me,_ Ellie. Not the spy, not Director Graham’s enforcer, not the con man’s daughter, but he saw me. The real me. The girl I thought I lost somewhere during the moves too numerous to count, the cons, the assignments, everything and everywhere I’ve been since that day my dad seduced that little girl away from her mother’s house with promises of adventure and rocky road ice cream... I would die for him... I want to live for him, live with him, have, and build a life with him! I love him, so damned much, and I don’t know what to do about it.”


	15. Chapter 15

Ellie stared at Sarah, dumbfounded at the younger woman’s admission. She didn’t quite understand everything that Sarah had said, but now that the dam had started to break down, perhaps those questions would be able to be answered as time went on. And there would definitely be a lot of talks between them in the days, weeks, months, and possibly even years ahead of them. She was still mad that so much had been kept from her throughout her life, and the fact that her brother not only knew about it, but willingly went along with it was incomprehensible. However, she would have to wait to confront her brother about everything until he had regained consciousness.

All she could do was deal with what was in front of her. “You say you love him, yet you knowingly put him in dangerous situations.” She finally spoke.

“Sometimes the situations we wind up in are dangerous,” Sarah admitted, “We do our best to keep the danger away from Chuck, but there’s only so much we can do when he insists on running headlong into the fray.”

Ellie looked at Casey for clarification.

“Damned idiot is too noble to stay in the van,” He supplied, “Your brother is a gifted analyst, no one can do what he does. And I will deny this until the day I die if it is repeated outside of this room. Chuck is the smartest man I’ve ever known, how he can simultaneously be the dumbest man at the same time is beyond me. He seems to struggle with understanding the command ‘stay in the van, Chuck.’ I don’t think he’s ever lasted more than 90 seconds before getting directly involved rather than serving as overwatch when we’re in the field. Kid’s too noble for his own good. If he thinks Walker or I am in danger, he’ll go charging in.”

“That does sound like Chuck,” Ellie rolled her eyes and sat, “Always trying to be the defender, even when he’s outmatched. I can’t tell you how many black eyes, bruises, and busted lips I had to deal with from him trying to protect Morgan. Only thing that saved him from being punished at school was that he never threw a punch. He knew how, he was in karate until Dad left, he just chose to not engage other than to defend.”

“That’s not surprising,” Sarah huffed a laugh.

“Explains a lot,” Casey agreed, “I didn’t need to train him nearly as much as I thought I would in hand-to-hand. Thought it was just because he grew up watching all those martial arts films, kind of like how he claims he’s so good at the range because of that one game, what was it, Duck Hunt?”

“Range?” Ellie’s eyes widened as she looked over to Casey, “As in guns?”

Casey nodded, “He’s been trained with live rounds, but the kid refuses to carry live ordinance in the field. At least as he primary weapon; he carries a tranq pistol.”

“I’m not sure if that’s much better,” Ellie shook her head.

“I agree,” Casey nodded, “He made a good case for it, though. Said we can’t get vital information from the dead. I still make him carry a live back up in an ankle holster in case he needs it.”

“Casey, I don’t think you’re helping,” Sarah warned her partner, noticing the look on Ellie’s face which seemed to be a combination of shocked, scared, and pissed off. “Ellie, we don’t want to upset you more  than is necessary. We are honestly just doing what Chuck has wanted to do since he started working with us; tell you the truth of what is going on.”

“In that case, you kind of glossed over why Chuck is working for you when his computer was destroyed after that bastard, Bryce, sent him government secrets. John said something about encoded images and retention rates?”

“That’s the part that ties into your father’s research and programming,” Sarah explained, “The secrets that Bryce sent were in the form of encoded images. By viewing them people with the ability to retain such images essentially ‘upload’ the information to their brain like files stored on a hard drive. The idea is to be able to recall the information at will. It took a while for Chuck to figure out how to do that, and he’s thus far only been mildly successful in doing so, most of the time the information is triggered randomly by something he sees or hears.”

“So, you’re saying my brother is basically a walking computer? A skin  job ?” Ellie asked.

“More like ‘The Computer Who Wore Tennis Shoes,’” Casey corrected, causing both women to look at him impressed he knew the reference, “What? I wasn’t hatched!” When the women shrugged in acceptance of his answer, he continued, “In the spirit of full disclosure, since your brother was considered such a high value asset, we had the courtyard and your condo under surveillance.”

“You what?!” Ellie looked around frantic as if she could spot the bugs.

“They haven’t been active, for the most part, since your brother was promoted to analyst,” Casey informed her, “I just haven’t had the opportunity to collect the bugs from the condo. Just for your peace of mind, they are only in the public areas of the condo, I’m not some pervert who gets his rocks off watching you in the shower, I would never invade your privacy... to that extent. After it was established that your brother was not a liability to the Nation’s security, I’ve only turned on the bugs a couple times. Both times were right after your parents showed up again and when your ex-fiancé came to speak his piece about why he took your mom’s offer to come to the states. It was for safety and security reasons only; they’ve been off since.” 

“As a result, we now know that your father has asked for your help in fixing Chuck,” Sarah added, “I know what we are asking of you is going to be hard considering your history with your parents and I get it, believe me I do, which is a long story for another day and will take at least a couple bottles of wine to explain, if you still wish to be friends when all this is over.”

Ellie sat in silence looking between the two government agents as she contemplated everything that they had told her. “Okay, so first thing is, I am so not okay with you having  surveillance equipment in my home, John Casey, and it will be removed before you leave tonight, am I understood?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Casey agreed, “But the surveillance in the courtyard stays.”

“I can live with that,” Ellie nodded , “Secondly, from here on out,  no more secrets, no more lies. I don’t expect you to brief me on every one of your missions, all I ask is that you don’t hide things from me anymore.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Casey  nodded .

“I promise,” Sarah echoed.

Ellie sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, “I guess I have a phone call to make. This may take a bit, John you should start removing the bugs.”

Casey nodded and stood, “I know where I put ‘ em , but I’m  gonna head back to my place  real quick to grab my bug detector in case your brother decided to get cute with some of them.” What he didn’t mention was the very real possibility that Frost, Orion, or Dmitri could have easily slipped a bug or two into the residence and he wanted to make sure he removed those as well.

Ellie nodded her understanding as she dialed the number her father had left her, “Hi Dad, it’s Ellie...” 

Over the next hour, Ellie went over the project specs and negotiated some ground rules and boundaries for when she and her father began to work together. Every so often Mary would try to get Stephen to hand over the phone only to have Stephen put her off a while longer, the older man in tune enough with his daughter to know that Mary’s presence on the call would not be welcomed. As she spoke, she watched as Casey, some odd box looking thing in one hand, meticulously went over every bit of the apartment, some areas a few times just to be absolutely sure that nothing was missed. Once everything had been established, she agreed to meet her father at the old house the next morning. About the same time Casey nodded the all clear and took the reclaimed bugs back to his apartment.

Casey quickly checked over the recovered tech, finally satisfied when no alien tech had been found amidst his American made bugs. Figuring Ellie and Walker would be chatting until the early morning, he decided to take a short walk over to Kathleen’s house to take advantage of a rare random time he was free and clear to spend time with his daughter. It amused and scared him in equal measure that he was slowly realizing that he both was scared of and impressed by the fact he was just as compromised, if not more, as Sarah, and one day he would admit it to himself and to the one who really should be the one to hear it.


	16. Chapter 16

Walking into her childhood home for the first time in almost twenty years was a bizarre experience for Ellie, who had been greeted by her father with a warm smile and a tentative hug. It only took a few moments for the situation to go from the supremely unreal to feeling as if she were Alice going down the rabbit hole. Within moments of stepping into the living room, her father had crossed to the old fireplace and rotated a sconce which caused a trap door to open in front of the mantle, revealing a set of stairs. He promised it was safe and offered to go first to prove it.

Ellie watched as her father descended to God knows where beneath the house before following him down. She had to keep reminding herself that she was doing all this for her family, for Chuck and for Sarah, who she hopped she could be back on good terms with eventually. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, her father was waiting for her.

“Welcome to my not-so-evil lair, Eleanor,” Stephen gestured around him, “This is mostly just storage space here, the good stuff is in the back, if you’d follow me.”

He led her past row after row of shelves with boxes of varying shapes and sizes, all meticulously organized using a system that likely only her father knew, before arriving at a metal door. She watched as he pressed the palm of his right hand against a rectangular plate next to the door. The door opened with a whoosh and the system greeted Stephen with a digital voice.

“Dad, where in the Hell are we?” Ellie asked, looking around at the room taking in the various computer terminals and monitors, including a large monitor mounted on the wall that looked like no flat screen she’d ever seen in her life. Directly on the opposite side of the room was a door with a large picture window beside it, through which she was able to make out what looked like something she’d find in the radiology department of her hospital.

“This is my lab,” Stephen explained, “This will be where we will work from to try and fix your brother, along with some of my other missteps.” He added the last few words under his breath.

Ellie gave him a questioning look, and when it was clear that he wasn’t going to expand on the comment he’d mad soto voce, she began to take a closer look at what the monitors were displaying. The monitors showing various lines of code, she couldn’t make heads or tails of. It did seem familiar, almost to the level of what she saw on Chuck’s screen the day she surprised him, and he’d admitted to being a hacker the summer between his third and fourth years of college. Ellie continued on until she found something she could understand, one of the monitors showed a 3-d scan of an unidentified patient’s brain alongside an EEG showing elevated theta, alpha, and gamma waves similar to what she’d seen on her brother’s chart.

“Dad, are these Chuck’s results?” She asked gesturing to the screen in front of her.

“Uh, no,” Stephen gave her a sheepish look, “That is actually someone else’s scans.”

“Wow, okay,” Ellie sighed, looking up as if asking for strength, “Dad, I’m going to ask this one time, and one time only; how many other people have you put into comas with this experiment of yours?”

“None to my knowledge,” Stephen shook his head, “So far as I know, only three people have uploaded my program. Only Charles has wound up in a coma, and even that was a result of a head injury and not directly due to the Intersect programming.”

“But you think this intersect thing that Chuck, I can’t believe I’m saying this, uploaded into his brain, is the reason he is still in a coma?” Ellie inquired.

“It’s a theory,” Stephen shrugged, “You see, I think that the head injury Charles sustained may have, caused the program to lock down as a protective measure, and now that your brother is recovering, it can’t seem reboot itself. I’ve checked the data and programming, but so far as I can tell, there shouldn’t be an issue with it rebooting itself from a protective stasis once the host is recovered.”

“Dad, can you hear yourself right now?” Ellie scoffed, “That ‘host’ you are referring to is your _son_ who is laying in a coma because of a program you created.”

“I understand that, Eleanor,” Stephen sighed, “It… I… In order for me to be able to look at this objectively and find a solution, I need to attempt to keep a distance from the problem at hand. Or else my… erm, I’m not sure I’ll be able to resolve the statis issue in your brother’s Intersect.”

“If you are worried about objectivity, then why am I here?” Ellie asked, “What led you to drag me down this particular rabbit hole, Dad?”

“Quite simply, you have a stake, as do I, in seeing your brother restored to full health.” Stephen stated, “Like I mentioned, there is nothing that I’m seeing from a programming standpoint that could be attributing to his condition, my only recourse is to pursue the neurological side of it. You are one of the best neurologists in your field, and not only on a national level, not to mention you have access to the radiology department in the hospital where your brother is convalescing. Please help me in this, Eleanor, you’re my only hope.”

Ellie arched her eyebrow at her father’s choice of words before turning back to the monitors and studying the labs they displayed. “Okay, I’m in. You are going to need to explain the programming side of all this to me as it’s all Greek to me, and I will need to see Uncle Hartley’s notes regarding his side of the research and development.”

“I’m more than happy to go over the programming aspect of this with you,” Stephen nodded, “And Hartley’s notes are on that computer over there,” He pointed to a station in the corner of the room, not too far from the makeshift radiological suite. “Your log-in is EFBartowski, it will ask you a few identifying questions before granting you access to the files. Where do you want to start?”

“Let me see what I can glean from Uncle Hartley’s notes so that I might have a better idea of how his neurological research coincided with your programming.” Ellie suggested, “You do realize this might take a while?”

“I’m aware of that,” Stephen nodded, “It took a while to develop, heck, it took seven years before we had a workable prototype.”

“Let’s just hope it won’t take that long,” Ellie sighed, “I’d rather like to see my brother wake up again before he’s old a grey.”

“Agreed,” Stephen nodded, “We’ll I’ll leave you to it. Do you need anything while you’re working, coffee, water, a sandwich?”

“No, I’m fine for now, Dad,” Ellie shook her head as she headed over to what was Hartley’s station which had clearly been updated over the years.

“Ovaltine?” He added with a light chuckle causing his daughter to snort out a soft laugh and roll her eyes.

“No thank you Herr Blucher,” Ellie spared him a small smile before sitting down at the computer and typing in her credentials, giving her father a humored look when she saw the first identifying question, “Really Dad? I was four.”

“A very adorable four,” Stephen agreed, “But only you, your mother, and I know about that anecdote.”

Ellie chuckled and continued on, once she was granted access to the computer, she started skimming over the files. Several hours later, her father approached her, a plate with a halved turkey sandwich and kettle chips in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. She gave him a thankful smile, nibbling on the food as she continued to work. It seemed as if very little time had passed before her father got her attention, suggesting she stop for the day and join him upstairs for dinner.

“It can’t possibly be that late,” She protested, “I only just ate lunch.”

“Eleanor, that was six hours ago,” Stephen pointed out, “Now I don’t blame you; I’ve been known to get lost in my work more times than not, but you really should put a pin in it for now. Come up stairs and eat then go home to get some rest. The computer will still be there come morning.”

Ellie looked at her watch, eyes widening as she realized how long she had been working, “You’re probably right,” She agreed, reluctantly logging out of the computer, and following her father upstairs.

The table was set for two. He had made his balsamic chicken and pasta and had poured them some red wine. He held her chair for her as she took a seat and invited her to dig into the meal. They ate in silence for a while before Ellie spoke up.

“Where’s Mom?” She asked, looking around, “I thought she would be here.”

“She had to go back to Moscow so that Volkoff wouldn’t be suspicious,” Stephen sighed sadly, “I really hope that what we are doing can help us to eventually fix him. I miss my old friend, I still see your mother from time to time, she’s able to step back from being Frost for a day or two so we can have time together, but Hartley hasn’t been able to shed his Volkoff persona in over two decades.”

Ellie reached over and gave her father’s hand a sympathetic squeeze before going back to eating. By the time diner was over, dishes had been washed and leftovers put away, Ellie was yawning. “I should get going.”

“Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” Stephen asked, “You can stay here, if you’d like, your room is still the same, I keep it cleaned and air it out from time to time.”

“I’ll be okay, Dad,” Ellie assured him, kissing his cheek before pulling on her coat and shouldering the strap of her purse. “I’ll see you in the morning okay?”

“Okay,” Stephen nodded, “Oh, wait, I forgot to give you this,” He produced a key from his pocket, “I figured you gave up your keys when you sold the house, and you’ll need a way to get in if I’m not able to answer the door.”

“Thanks,” She gave him a small smile. The two exchanged a hug and she made her way down the walkway to where her car was parked. Stephen watching as she got in, pulled out of the driveway, and drove off down the street.


End file.
